


Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Dreamstone

by Slink34884



Series: The Dreamstone [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, F/M, Family, Gen, Romance, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 232,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27142729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slink34884/pseuds/Slink34884
Summary: Slink never evolved. Nobody knows why. Nobody knows how. He just never did. He always thought that was all he would have to deal with until one night when his entire family is killed. That night his father gave him a mission, to find the Dreamstone; an artifact that just might be able to fix everything.With the help of Eve, an Espeon who has some dark connections; and Vix, a young Vulpix with some strange abilities he must search for the mythical Dreamstone. But lurking in the shadows, those who murdered his family keep him from his goal, and drag him into a battle bigger than he could have expected. Can he even afford to search for the Dreamstone when finding it could cost him everything?
Relationships: Fokko | Fennekin / Eifie | Espeon
Series: The Dreamstone [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2034454
Kudos: 11





	1. Any Three Questions

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone.
> 
> If this is your first interaction with me and this story, welcome. If you are also coming over from FFN, welcome back.
> 
> Three years ago today I published the first chapter of *The Dreamstone* to FFN. Now, I wanted to spread out, share the story here as well. As of writing this I have 20 chapters written and published with more on the way soon enough. My plan will be to publish a chapter twice a week until I am caught up. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading. Now on to the story! I give you *Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Dreamstone*.

I never understood my Typing. Fire always drove me hotter, making my passion and rage that much stronger. Psychic cooled me off, gave me control and perspective. I’m not bipolar exactly, but there are times that I felt like I was at war with myself. 

My two natures simply couldn't combine. It was impossible. The heat of Fire burned away the coldness of Psychic, and the overwhelming presence of Psychic was enough to smother any Flame. There were times when it hurt, as battling and communicating are difficult when I can’t evoke both passion and brainpower.

And then there were times like that day, like then when I was sitting in a dark wet cave.

I could hardly breathe in the cool damp air. I choked on each sob as it passed my lips, and then I was forced to painfully gasp in air as I hunched over to try and nurse a stitch in my side. I had no idea how long I had been running. A day? Two? The whole time I sat there, I saw images flickering before my eyes. Flames, darkness, my father’s face twisted into a picture of defeat as his wand was snapped in two.

I sat there for a while, wheezing pitifully as I curled myself into a tighter ball. Soon I had my tail tucked between my hind legs, and my forehead pressed into the floor. My eyes prickled, but I fought desperately to keep the tears away, but each flickering memory I felt a new sob rising in my throat.

Sheer exhaustion had forced me to rest, and this cave had been the only shelter. The only place to hide. I knew that I had to keep going. I couldn’t stay here, or I would be found. There was no way I could let that happen. Especially as my father’s last words echoed through my head. I gritted my teeth as the memory flashed through my mind. I felt paralysed as it flowed through me. Guilt, anger, and pain pinning me down. 

I didn’t have time for this. I had know idea if they were still after me, but if they caught me I would be done. I reached for my Psychic, feeling the cold rush as it enveloped me. I quickly formed it into a mental box and shoved my pain and sadness into it before tossing it to the back of my mind. There would be time for it later. I took several deep breaths as I forced myself to stand. My legs wobbled as I stood there, but I forced myself to start walking.

That is until another Pokémon blocked my path. I looked up at it and was immediately greeted with the grotesque, grinning face of a Mr. Mime. I backed away, but someone was there too. 

“Well look what we have here,” the Mr. Mime laughed, “what are you doing so far from home kid?” He lashed out faster than I thought possible, and suddenly he had an iron-like grip on the scruff of my neck. He lifted me up to eye level.

“I’m not a kid,” I protested. I closed my eyes, took a breath, and then stared him down calmly like my father had taught me. “I’m an adult. Please let me go.”

“Really,” the Pokémon behind me croaked, “doesn’t your kind evolve around age thirteen?”

I twisted in the Mr. Mime’s grip to find a Toxicroak standing there with his arms crossed. The red sack at his throat inflated and deflated as he breathed. “Age ten,” I corrected cooly. “Please let me go. If you don’t I will defend myself, and with your Typing, specifically, you should watch yourself!”

The Mr. Mime shook me, his fingers digging into my skin. “Well if you are as old as you claim, then you are encroaching on our territory. You should know better. We don’t appreciate trespassers, do we Tad?” he said addressing the Toxicroak. The frog chuckled darkly. “Show him what happens to trespassers around here,” the Mr. Mime grinned.

I turned around, watching carefully as Tad drew back his fist. A deep purple glow radiated around it as he prepared to deliver a quick Poison jab. I waited for a moment as I gathered Psychic energy. We both struck at the same time. He thrust his fist forward hoping to drive it into my chest, but a bright pink flash slammed him backwards into the wall of the cave. 

“Why you little!” the Mr. Mime roared. His eyes glowed pink as he tried his own Psychic assault on me, but my power was more than enough to counter and deflect his. Once he realized it was futile he snarled and tried to simply punch me. I opened my mouth, feeling the cool feeling of Psychic evaporate instantly. My red irises glowed a deeper shade of crimson, and a wave of heat and flame exploded from my throat. The Mr. Mime’s eyes widened as the flames grafted to his body. He screamed as the flames ate into him until he collapsed into unconsciousness.

“I warned you,” I spat over his limp body. Then out of nowhere I felt a sharp blow against the back of my head. I was flung aside and onto the floor. I rolled over to see the Toxicroak standing over me with a purple aura surrounding his body.

“So did we,” Tad snarled. He brought back his fist, ready to end me. Then I heard a soft _clack._

“What was that?” Tad snarled at me. “One of your little Psychic tricks? It won’t delay the inevitable.” Once again he wound up to hit me, but then he flinched as his head snapped to the side. Another small _clack_ sounded as a small pebble hit the cave floor.

Tad kicked me in the ribs, driving all of the air from my lungs. I shuddered on the floor for a moment before I gasped violently trying to get any air back into my lungs. “I told you to knock it off!” His aura grew darker as he readied his attack once again. The first two punches were meant to wound, to punish. This one was meant to kill. Suddenly the roof of the cavern began to shake, the stalactites glowing with pink Psychic energy. Instinct kicked in, and without thinking of how I would escape I used my energy to destabilize the cavern even more. Toxicroak tried to move out of the way, but a huge slab of rock suddenly gave away and landed squarely on his head and on a few extra square meters of the cavern.

I barely managed to roll out of the way, and then I was on my feet and running. I used what little power I had left to deflect any of the falling debris away from me, but rocks still managed to find holes in my defenses striking my legs and back. I forced myself to focus ahead at the crumbling cave mouth. I only needed it open for a second longer. One more second. Please.

I threw myself forward with everything I had as a last ditch attempt to escape. My legs buckled as I hit the ground so I rolled. My tail cleared the cave just as the entrance finally snapped and collapsed in on itself. I simply lay where I had landed, too exhausted to move. I closed my eyes for a moment. The box with my memories tried to push forward (was now the time?) but I snapped a mental lock on it and pushed it back again. Not now. Not yet.

I panted for a while, blearily gazing through the haze of dust that the collapsing cave had brought. I sneezed and coughed several times, nearly choking on the dust. One thought kept forcing its way into my head. How had the cave collapsed? I had seen the Psychic power that had destroyed it, but I certainly hadn’t started it. I doubt that the Mr. Mime would have been conscious enough to pull the roof down on me either.

Of course, even as I thought this I caught movement out of the corner of my eye; a pink smudge in the brown and grey clouds floating around me. Had the Mr. Mime escaped?

I watched with bated breath as the shape paced around for a few moments. I stayed completely still, hoping that it wouldn’t notice me. As the shape moved closer however I relaxed slightly. I didn’t know much about the creature approaching me, but I could tell that it was walking on four legs.

“Are you okay, over there?” I snapped my head up at the voice. Whoever it was, they were female. I watched the figure get closer until she emerged through the clouds of dust. An Espeon. She looked around with her solid violet eyes until she finally saw me sprawled and panting in the dirt. 

“Hey there,” she said once she saw me, her voice rising higher as if she were addressing a child, “are you okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Oh,” she said, “well do you need any help? Can I take you somewhere? Do you need help getting home?”

I sat up slightly and rolled my eyes at her. “How old do you think I am? No, I don’t need help.”

“Uh,” the Espeon said clearly taken aback. “But you are a Fennekin,” the Espeon stated sounding confused, “don’t you evolve with age? I mean you don’t need like a Firestone or something right?”

“Well, yeah,” I said. I felt a little uncomfortable. “Look, why don’t we start over.” I stood up, although my legs felt a bit unsteady. I offered her my paw. “My name is Slink. Thanks for saving me.”

The heliotrope creature was too busy staring at me to respond. Now that I was standing she could get a much better sense of my size. Overall I was just a few inches taller than the Espeon at the shoulder, and my body was just longer than her’s (although her tail was longer than mine). 

I coughed, and she suddenly seemed to realize that she was staring. “Sorry. My name is Eve. Nice to meet you. Anyway Slink are you good? Why were you in that cave?”

“I needed a place to rest,” I admitted, “and I didn’t know that it was occupied. Really, I’m fine.” I turned and started to walk away.

“Where are you going?” Eve asked.

I hesitated just a split second too long, telling Eve everything that she needed to know. “I’m...er… going to…” The box opened just a crack, and one word flitted through my head, “I’m going to find the Dreamstone!”

"What? Where the hell- no scratch that- what the hell is the dream stone?"

"I don't know!" I whirled around my eyes boiling and darkening. "I don't know. All I know is that my father told me to find the Dreamstone if anything ever happened to him."

There was a shocked silence as it slowly dawned on we what I had said. What I had revealed. “W-w-what happened?” the Espeon whispered.

I hung my head, refusing to meet her gaze. “I don’t want to talk about it, okay. Please, let it go.”

"Okay, okay," Eve said gently, "I won't push anymore.” She trailed off, and I realized that she was thinking over what she wanted to say. “Slink, I think you should join the Expedition Society.”

“What?” I snapped. “I don’t need to join some cult! Weren’t you listening? I need to find the Dreamstone.”

She rolled her eyes. "Yes I understand that, but I don't know where it is. You don't know where it is. I doubt anyone knows where it is. But the Expedition Society's job is to explore the world and help Pokémon. They may know where it is, and if they don't, perhaps you will run into it on a mission."

I stared at her. Was she serious? This seemed like such a detour from my goal. Why did she seem to think that it would help me to join? She was wagging her tail nervously, and I could sense an anxious excitement radiating from her. As I looked closer, I saw something. A long thin leather bag hung over her body. She had the strap passed over the right side of her neck and the bag rested on her left side. "You're going to join and you want me to come with you."

She blushed, an obvious red bleeding through her short purple fur. “Yes,” she admitted. “The Society only lets you start a team when you have at least two members. My other...I mean...I didn’t have one yet, but I assumed that I would meet somebody on the way there. Look you don’t have to stay my partner forever, but I was being honest when I said that I think this is your best bet at finding the Dreamstone. Please.”

Normally I would have said no, but I had no idea of where I was going, and besides maybe if I joined this Society thing I could find _Them_. There was something about this Espeon too. I couldn't put my paw on it, but I sensed something about her. Perhaps it was my Psychic energy leaking or maybe it was just a thread of fate. Whatever it was, it made me curious. 

“Fine,” I said, “but on one condition.”

“Sure, whatever,” Eve said excitedly.

"You have to promise me that when I find the Dreamstone that you let me go to it.” I stared directly into her eyes, forcing her to hear every word. “I need you to promise that when I find it you will sever all ties with me and we can go our separate ways."

Eve hesitated for a moment, but only a moment. "Done," Eve said excitedly, "now can we get going? We are wasting daylight."

I looked around. “Where is this Expedition Society anyway?”

Eve laughed. She moved next to me and pointed at the horizon with her tail. At least she tried to point at the horizon, but huge purple mountains blocked the way. “See that tall mountain? The Expedition Society HQ is on the other side. It is only about a day and a half away.”

“Okay,” I said. “Follow up question. Where are we?”

“What?” Eve asked cocking her head.

“I’ve kinda been in a daze. I honestly don’t even know what day it is.”

“Oh,” Eve said somewhat put off. “Umm, we are on the West side of the Scale Mountain range. The Expedition Society is on the East coast. Does that help?”

“It does,” I smiled. “So, I guess we should go. Lead the way.”

Eve seemed familiar with the area. She lead us through the trees, and soon enough we were on a road. We turned towards the mountains, and for most of the day we walked directly toward them. “So are we going _over_ the mountain?” I asked as the forest faded into a grassland. The mountain seemed to loom even higher from this distance.

“There is a pass just North of us,” Eve said, “the road will branch in just a few miles.”

“Oh,” was all I could find to say. “So, I assume you’ve come this way before.”

Eve shrugged. “Once a few years ago. My father brought me with him for his job.”

I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, so I fell silent again. I couldn’t help but notice that Eve wasn’t much for conversation. At least personal conversation. Every time we came anywhere near the topic, Eve would give a little before changing the subject. I didn’t push, mostly because I had my own issues. We tried to keep up a friendly conversation, but we didn’t know what to talk about. I mean neither of us knew anything about the other except our names. 

The mountain seemed to grow impossibly tall, like a tsunami wave about to destroy the continent. As the sun began to set behind us, the purple color turned much more red. It was honestly quite beautiful.

A few minutes later, Eve veered off the road, and started off into the trees. “Where are we going?” I asked.

“Hmm?” Eve asked not even turning around.

“You said that the road would fork. Why are we leaving the road now?”

“Oh,” Eve said, but she seemed distracted. She kept looking around, and once or twice she stopped and turned slowly on the spot. “Well there is no way we are going to be able to get over the pass tonight, and we only have about an hour and a half worth of light left. Last time I came this way there was a…” she paused as she suddenly trotted forward towards a break in the trees. “I knew it was here somewhere!” She said excitedly. “Isn’t this the best campsite?”

I had to admit, it wasn’t bad. Of course based on my past experience, as long as there weren’t any hostile Pokémon in this campsite it was a win. There was a sheer cliff face in the back of the clearing, with trees surrounding the rest of it. “We can make up beds there,” Eve explained, “and I have supplies so that we can erect a small shelter by the back wall. I don’t think it will rain tonight, although it is supposed to get cold. It sure would be nice if we had a fire.” She looked at me pointedly.

I rolled my eyes. “Sure, but I’m going to need something to burn.”

“Fine,” Eve said. She took her bag off of her shoulder and then tossed it at me. “You can go get some firewood with that, and I’ll make the shelter and our beds. That okay?”

I nodded before picking up the bag and walking into the trees to search for firewood. Unfortunately there weren’t any fallen branches nearby and I wasn’t about to try and harvest any from a tree, so I wandered a little farther from camp. 

The small leather bag I carried was heavier than I thought it would be. Despite what Eve had said I wasn't so sure it could hold any firewood. It felt so full. I set it on the ground and stuffed my nose into it just to see how much room I had. I will admit that I was impressed.

Pockets of all shapes and sizes covered the inside walls of the bag. I saw a large one that was full of money, two pockets that were shaped to hold canteens, and ones that simply held seeds. Other objects seemed to be just tossed in haphazardly, but there were shaped leather bowls in the bottom of the bag to hold different berries and seeds securely and safely. I took stock and found that Eve had a healthy supply of orbs, wands, and she even had an emergency blanket that was secured to the bag by a large length of rawhide rope.

One thing that confused me however was the only item in the bag that didn't seem to have any real purpose. It wouldn't have stuck out if anything in Eve's bag had looked personal, but because of how formulaic and bland the contents of the bag were I couldn't miss the black gem.

I wasn't exactly sure what the stone was. It was slightly smaller than my paw, and as black as obsidian. It was cut expertly and polished to an almost reflective finish, but I just couldn't tell what it did or why it was special. Shrugging, I tossed it back into the bag. I could always ask Eve about it later.

Soon after, I hit the firewood jackpot. There was a slight rut in the forest floor, all that remained of a dried river. I followed it for a ways until I came across an old abandoned Bidoof dam. I was able to fill Eve’s bag to capacity and I hadn’t even made a dent in the structure.

Getting back to camp however was a different issue. The bag was much heavier now, (and unfortunately it took me almost all the way back to realize that I could carry it using Psychic,) and I had forgotten where camp was. By the time I found it again, Eve was nearly done with her job. She had dug two shallow pits and filled them with long grasses, leaves, and flowers. They were more like nests than beds, but they ended up being super comfortable. She had also cleared the grass from a small patch, and surrounded it with rocks as an impromptu fire pit. As I approached, she reclaimed her bag and dumped the load next to the firepit. She then took the blanket and the rawhide and strung up a canopy over the nests.

“Are you just going to stand there,” she teased, “or are you going to light the fire already?” I rolled my eyes at her before I piled up several of the largest branches into the circle of stones. Less than a second later I had a fire crackling merrily at my feet. Being half Fire type does have its advantages. 

So there we were. Two kids who had only met about five hours ago sitting by a crackling fire. Just like before though, we really didn’t have that much to talk about, and it was still light out, meaning that we probably wouldn’t have much luck going to sleep. After almost an hour of awkward silence, Eve finally snapped.

“How about we play a game I used to play back in school? It is called any three questions.” She paused waiting for my response. When I didn’t offer one, she plowed on quickly. “Just like the name sounds you can ask the other person any three questions about themselves, and they have to answer truthfully."

“Thanks,” I grumbled, “I would never have been able to figure that out. Seriously? Get to know you games?” I tried to hide behind sarcasm, but I was certain that Eve could see the real reason for my hesitation. There was no way that I could handle personal questions. Not now.

Eve leaned close to me. “I promise that I won’t go over the line. Look if we are going to join the Society together we might as well know something about one another.”

“Fine,” I sighed.

“Yay,” Eve said. “I’ll go first.” She looked around for a minute as if she was looking for her question when her eyes suddenly locked on me. “What are you chewing on?”

Huh. It took me a second to realize that I had dissolved into one of my nervous tics. I spat out the pendant that I had been absentmindedly chewing. The polished grey stone hung from a thin leather cord. It wasn’t a gem exactly, but it had an almost perfect triangle shape. I was surprised she hadn’t seen it until now, but to be fair it often got lost in the thick fur of my chest.

"It was a birthday present for my ninth birthday,” I said slowly. “My mother had this really cool necklace with a Firestone on it, and I had wanted one just like it. Unfortunately I had a habit of losing things so my parents told me that if I wore this one everyday for two years they would get me one with a Firestone. After about a year and a half I lost interest, but I still wore it everyday out of habit. My sister used to tease me to no end about it."

“You have a sister?” Eve asked.

“Is that your second question?” I replied.

She rolled her eyes at me. “Sure, I guess it is.”

I eyed her for a moment. This question, at least in my head, seemed to be toeing the line. I answered though. “Her name was Blaze. She was three years older than me and had already Evolved twice. She was on her way to the Mist continent to study different types of energy.”

“She evolved?” Eve asked tilting her head. “Why did she evolve and you didn’t?” Before I could answer this safe question another thought popped into her head. “You talk about her in the past tense. Is she… was she… at the same time…with your dad?”

Tears pushed themselves to the surface of my eyes. I felt so horrible, so alone even with Eve by my side. I could only nod. “And my mom.” I breathed.

Eve was silent for a minute. She must have realized how close to the line she had gotten. “Maybe you should take a turn now?” she suggested.

I tried to cast around for a safe topic. 

"Why did you become an Espeon?" I asked finally.

“I didn’t really chose to be an Espeon. It happened by accident. See my older sister had been teasing me about Sh… something at school. I got upset and I ran crying into the woods behind our house. It was almost noon so everything was bright and clear, but my eyes were so clouded with tears that I could barely see straight.

“I finally stopped running when I tripped. I felt way too tired to get up. I kinda realized at that point how stupid the whole thing was. There was no point in me running off. I would have gone straight back, but I felt a tickle on my hindpaw. Then suddenly something snapped around it, lifting me off of my feet so that I was hanging upside down by my ankle.

“I heard this sickly-sweet voice above me. It said something like, ‘Oh child why don’t you come with me. I’ll fix you in a meal and make you feel much better.’ A purple, diamond-shaped head lowered into view and I felt my heart stop. The Arbok’s tail wriggled lower as it began to cocoon me in its coils. In desperation I used Swift to try and get away. It worked, except that the snake dropped me on my head. I was dazed and confused, and I was only vaguely aware of the dripping fangs inches from my head.

"Just as the snake was about to strike, the Arbok's body was thrown to the side as my sister tackled it. She told me that she was sorry and that I shouldn't have run off like I had. Suddenly the snake dove at her and sank its fangs into her side. She cried out and knocked it back again, but she is a Sylveon. She is weak against Poison, and the Poison in her system was making her weaker. The snake went in for a fatal strike, but after feeling a huge wave of affection and love for my sister I dove for the snake. In midair I saw a flash of bright light as my body began to change. I felt my body get longer and taller, while my tail got thinner and split in two. By the time I landed I had fully changed, and was able to knock the Arbok out with a quick Psychic attack."

"And what happened next?" I said clinging to her every word. "What happened to your sister? Did she survive?"

"Of course. We found some Pecha berries and it all worked out."

I looked around our little campsite trying to think of something else to ask. My gaze landed on her little leather bag and I remembered wanting to ask her a question earlier. "What is the black gem?"

The mood around the campfire changed so suddenly that I shivered. “Was that too far?” I asked trying to backpedal. “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

She stubbornly met my gaze. "No, it is okay. That gem was a gift from my partner."

My brain filled with questions as it reeled back from this revelation. "You have a partner?"

"No! He's gone- he's dead! He was an Umbreon that I knew from school. Then he just left me one day.”

"So do you know what the gem is made of?" I asked trying to keep her mind off of her ex-partner.

She fished it out of the bag and began rolling it around in her paw. The light from the fire seemed to make it glow from the inside. "No," she said finally, her voice trembling. I could tell she was on the verge of crying, but at the same time I could tell that that wasn’t the whole story. Despite the tears in her eyes she wore a deep scowl, and alongside her melancholy words I could feel resentment radiating from her. "It was his final gift to me though,” she finished hurriedly.

I nodded, but on the inside my mind was spinning. I wasn't an expert on feelings and people. She almost seemed to hate or at least be angry at her former partner. I would understand if she didn't love him, but she had saved a gift from him. I had a feeling she wasn't telling me the truth, but I had poked my nose into an extremely personal topic.

We were silent for quite a while. “My turn,” Eve said. “This one has been killing me all day. Why are you so large for a Fennekin? And you have some pretty advanced Psychic skills too. How old are you?”

I smiled as I shrugged. “Honestly I have no idea. I don’t know why I didn’t evolve either. I’m eighteen, and as best we could tell that since I didn’t or couldn’t evolve, my body continued to grow and develop. By the way, how old are you?"

“Seventeen, but I turn eighteen in just a few weeks.” Eve motioned for me to keep talking.

“Anyway, when I turned eighteen I gained the Psychic type (that is the age that I should have turned into a Delphox) but I had been using Psychic type moves for years . I guess I evolved internally, while remaining a Fennekin on the outside.”

“Alright,” Eve said. “Your turn. Final question.”

For the life of me I couldn’t think of anything to ask her. I didn’t really have anything I needed to know. She had been a bit quiet about her family. She had only really mentioned her sister because it was part of her answer, and she had only passingly mentioned her father. I wasn’t certain if I should ask her about her parents or something. Had she said anything else today that had made me curious? 

As I thought about it, a question came to mind. It wasn’t based on anything she had said, but in an action she had taken. “Why did you save me?”

“What?” Eve asked. She was genuinely confused.

“I was a stranger. You didn’t know who I was. You didn’t know what I was. You didn’t even know if I was the bad guy there. Why did you save me?”

Eve thought about it for a minute. When she answered, she spoke slowly as if she was still putting the words together while she was speaking them. “I didn’t know what was going on. I heard shouting, and I thought that somebody needed help. When I saw the Toxicroak standing over you… I guess it felt unfair to me. Sure, I didn’t know who or what you were, but it wasn’t fair. He was going to kill you. I acted.”

“But…” I said trailing off. I had no idea why I was protesting. “I’m sorry. It’s just that the last few days I haven’t been used to people helping me.”

“Slink, we are Expedition partners now, understand? I will help you and I will protect you because we are teammates. Whatever else happens I will help you, because that is what partners do.” She stared at me silently for a few moments before I looked away. “We should probably go to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”

We both settled down, the only noise being the crackling of the fire. “Goodnight Eve,” I mumbled.

“Goodnight Slink,” she replied.


	2. Family

The next morning I woke up to the sound of Eve wandering around the campsite. I peeked at her through a cracked eye as she paced and muttered to herself. The sun wasn’t even up yet. Obviously this Pokèmon was a morning person. Lucky me. I hoped that she would settle down a bit so that I could just get a little more sleep.

Eventually Eve seemed to lose her patience. She prodded me with her tails, shaking my shoulder. “Slink. Slink? Slink! Come on Slink, get up.” If I was hoping that she would leave me alone if I played dead I was wrong. She whipped me with her tails. “Get up! We are losing daylight!”

“You can’t lose what you haven’t had yet.” I grumbled as I rolled to my feet.

“Come on, please.” Eve said as she hopped from foot to foot. “If we hurry we can get to the Expedition Society HQ by nightfall.”

“Fine,” I mumbled. I shook myself to get some of the clinging blades of grass off, and it helped wake me up as well.”Okay, lead the way.”

She looked at me for a moment as if she was expecting me to do something else. “What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said turning away. I swear I heard her mutter something about not understanding boys and hygiene. As she walked away I noticed that her fur was wet. She must have found a pond or stream and had taken a bath before waking me up.

Sure, my fur was a little dusty from the cave collapse, and I did smell a bit like smoke, but I was a Fire type. I was supposed to look a bit rugged. Also, I wasn’t _that_ dirty.

I followed Eve as we returned to the road. Maybe it was the early hour, or perhaps it was the fact that the nearest town was a few hours away, but we didn’t see any other Pokemon up and about that morning. Although I hated being up, I had to admit that watching the sun slowly peek up over the Scale mountains was beautiful. The pinkish light reflected off of the clouds complimenting the purple-orange sky. The hours melted away as we eventually turned north, following the road as it meandered to avoid a large river, before eventually turning back east once again heading towards a natural cleft in the mountains.I followed Eve as we returned to the road. After a few minutes we turned north where the road forked, and then back east as we reached the foothills. Today the travel was actually nice. We were able to keep up a conversation, but only because we had learned last night where to toe the line. I didn't mind. I wouldn't pry if she didn't. It was nice to have a companion. 

The journey through the pass almost went well. Honestly I should have known with my luck that it wouldn’t go smooth. We were nearly at the peak of the pass when I felt it. A rush of wind, as if we had stepped through a wall made from air. I shivered as the feeling passed down my body. Something didn’t feel right. “What was that?” I asked Eve.

She didn’t seem that bothered. “I don’t know. Last time I came through here was a while ago. But I know this place is safe. Don’t worry about it.”

I relaxed. I trusted that Eve knew what she was doing. I wasn’t going to challenge her, especially considering that I had no idea where we were going.

We passed several other side paths and forks as we traveled through the pass, but Eve ignored them. I retained my faith in her and followed blindly. Of course it was at that moment that the path we were on hit a dead end at a sheer rock face.

“I don’t understand,” Eve said, “the path should be right here. I remember; it was a perfectly straight path over the mountain.”

“Perhaps it changed. You never know. Maybe an earthquake or mudslide blocked that path. You said it has been a while. Let’s look for the road somewhere else.” I tried to stay calm and reasonable, but I had a growing suspicion of what had happened. I just hoped I was wrong.

Eve nodded and we backtracked to where the road split. She glanced back at me and then took the new path leading to the right. I closed my eyes and tried to create a mental map. I knew that this route would take us perpendicular to our original trail. Hopefully we would turn right again to head in the correct direction.

The road weaved and meandered a little, but it mostly lead the way we wanted to go. The path diverted through a few large meadows. We didn’t at any point see a path leading back to the right. After a rather long, thin segment, the path took a sharp turn to the left.

This wasn’t correct. Who had built this detour? We needed to head right once again. This would take us in the opposite direction that we wanted to go. Nonetheless, we took the new path until it too dead ended in a small clearing completely surrounded by thick trees.

Except. Tucked away in the back corner of the clearing was a flat stone platform overgrown with grass. I gasped aloud, for I now knew exactly what was happening. We were in a Mystery Dungeon.

Eve moved over to investigate the platform. “No,” I shouted. Eve jumped back looking around. She searched for anything dangerous and, finding nothing, she turned to me. She looked rather cross.

“What was that?” Eve snapped. “It is only a stone platform, Slink. Maybe there was a house or something here and that was the foundation. If this area is populated, maybe we could ask for directions.”

I shook my head, unable to find the words that I needed. “That isn’t a stone platform. That is a portal to the next floor. We are in a Mystery Dungeon!”

"Mystery Dungeon!" Eve echoed. She got paler, her normal lilac turning more lavender. “Slink, I have a confession to make. I’ve never actually been in a Mystery Dungeon before.” I bit my lip, cursing under my breath. “Hey, I’m actually pretty good at battling, but I’ve never been in a Dungeon.”

“I understand,” I muttered. Truth be told I had only ever been in a Dungeon with my father, and even then only weak three to five floor ones. I took a deep breath. “Okay, we should be fine. But, I should probably lead.”

“Of course,” Eve said. For the first time she sounded at least nervous. “Of course you can lead. You know more about Dungeons than I do.”

"Thank you. This Dungeon can't have more than five floors, but we need to stay alert. Three rules that you need to know about Dungeons before we go anywhere. One, don't ever enter one alone. Two, always get out before nightfall. And three, don't be tricked by the Pokèmon in the dungeons. They are wild, feral, and will kill you for food if they get the chance. Got it?"

"I do know that much," Eve said, the impatience evident in her voice. "Can we go now?"

Together, we stepped forward onto the stone platform. Immediately the the world seemed to jerk, as if someone had suddenly hit the brakes on reality. The world around us distorted, the colors bled onto one another until we were in the center of a swirling mass of color. Then came my least favorite part of the whole thing. The platform beneath us shattered, and we fell through sound and color.

I knew enough to brace myself, and just in time too, as we landed on the next floor only seconds later. Eve wasn’t nearly as prepared. Her legs collapsed as we slammed into the ground. She gave a yelp of surprise. “Welcome to floor two,” I smiled at Eve.

“Well that was… interesting,” Eve said as she shakily got to her feet, “do we have to do that every time?”

“Yes,” I said before walking off into the Dungeon. I paused as we stepped out of the small room we had landed in. I looked around frantically. Had anything moved? Were there any traps nearby? Was a wild Pokèmon about to attack me from behind? I waited for a second, and then took another step. Eve smacked me with her tail.

"Hey at this rate we will be in here until nightfall. Pick up the pace. Seriously!" I blushed slightly. I was probably overreacting.

We started off on a path that lead east. There wasn’t any particular reason, but it seemed like a step in the right direction. As we walked I told Eve every tip my father had given me for navigating a Dungeon. “If all else fails turn left unless it will cause you to hit a dead end... Always map mentally where you have been...only use wands or orbs when you are pressed for time..."

We carefully navigated the maze of paths, clearings and dead ends. Unfortunately, it didn’t feel like we were anywhere near the portal. Every path we went down seemed to lead to a dozen other alternate routes. I was a bit worried that we would spend all day on this one floor.

A few minutes later we found a smaller clearing with a stream running across one end. Eve suggested that we take a break. It was getting pretty hot, and by the sun’s position we had been walking for over an hour, so we decided to stop and take a drink.

I knew that navigating a Dungeon was difficult, but I had no idea where I was going. It was infuriating to walk down a path for almost ten minutes just to meet a dead end. My only comfort was that according to my mental map there were only three or four more places left that could hold the stone platform.

Once I was finished drinking, I looked up to find that Eve was no longer standing next to me. I turned to see that she had leapt over the creek and was backed up against the sheer cliff face that made up the wall. Her feet were braced against the ground, as if she was actually trying to push herself _into_ the wall. She had her ears tucked back against her head, and her eyes were huge and staring.

I didn’t hesitate. I whirled around, breathing Fire as I went to push back any potential attackers. I scanned the room around me, searching for any threat. At the same time I tried to call on Psychic. The cool energy gathered, but I felt the Fire die in my stomach. I saw something shooting towards my face so I instinctively reached for my Fire. I gasped as I felt both sensations battle for a moment before both died.

It was in that moment of struggle that I met my attacker. Or at least he met me. I felt a blinding pain across my snout as a thick, scaled, tail snapped across it. I stumbled to the side blindly, trying to avoid a second attack. I felt something wrap around my ankles. I lost my balance, and was thrown to the ground. As the tears cleared from my eyes I saw a bright purple Ekans hovering over me, its dripping fangs ready to strike. My blood ran cold, and I found that I couldn’t even move.

I felt a surge of Psychic power, and the air seemed to ripple above me. The Ekans, lunged at me, but its head was caught as a barrier of Psychic energy formed between me and it. I looked back to see Eve with her gem blazing. She took a step towards the snake, and the barrier advanced as well. The snake was forced to retreat. When she forced it back into the narrow corridor the Ekans hissed angrily then it turned and slithered away.

“Slink, are you okay?” Eve turned back and started running towards me. Without warning I heard something that was a mix of a hiss and a snarl. The grass rustled, before the Ekans burst out of it, and jumped at Eve.

I didn’t think. I reacted. Fire spewed from my mouth in a stream, catching the snake in midair and incinerating it instantly. Eve half turned as the snake’s ashes fell around her like snow, and then she froze in place, trembling. She just sat there shaking and breathing heavily. I didn't know what to do, but even without Psychic powers I knew what was going on. 

Without speaking, I walked over to her, sat down in front of her and pulled her close to me. This is what I had done whenever my mother or sister cried. It seemed to make them happy, or at least feel better. The second I touched her, Eve buried her face in my chest fur and broke down into sobs that shook her whole body. I still had no clue, but I pulled her closer and just offered her reassurance.

"An Ekans, huh? Like the day you evolved." She didn't speak, but I felt her nod through her sobs. "Your sister saved you then..." she nodded again "... and you are afraid of them now." I could feel her breathing slow down, and her crying became less violent. "And today you thought that it was going to kill you. You thought I might not save you." Her crying stopped completely at this point, although her body shook periodically with dry sobs.

“Eve, remember what you said last night?” She turned her head so that she could look at me with one eye. “When you saved me you told me that you didn’t think. They were going to kill me, so you acted.” She nodded into my chest. “Eve, we are Expedition partners now, understand? I will help you and I will protect you because we are teammates. You are all I have now, so like it or not, we are family, and family watches out for each other.” I leaned back so that her face was no longer buried in my chest. I met eyes with her. “Eve I will never let anyone or anything hurt you if I can help it.”

She nodded slowly before putting her face into my chest again. I knew she was trying to calm down, so I just hugged her and let her be. A few minutes later I finally broke the silence. “Eve, I completely get it but we have lost a lot of time and we need to get moving.”

I took a step back and watched as Eve wiped her eyes with her paw and took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said sounding almost normal, “let’s go.”

We took a new path, and I prayed to Arceus that we would find the platform. He must have been listening, because a few minutes later we found the portal. In fact he must have been feeling extremely helpful, because when we landed on the next floor we were only feet from the stone platform.

Since we had saved so much time on the second floor, I was certain that the third floor would be a breeze. After another hour of wandering I decided that we needed a new plan. “We can’t keep going like this,” I muttered to Eve. I glanced at her bag. “You have wands in there, right?”

“Sure,” she said as she set it down and stuck her nose into it. “Here.” She handed me what looked like a handful of short sticks, except the leaves were acting strange.

For example, the first one I picked up seemed to have normal leaves, except from time to time they would all shiver as if they were caught in a breeze. I was certain that it was a paralysis wand. Another seemed to move and change every time I looked away. It was probably a warp wand. I sorted through stay-away wands and pounce wands until I found a few that had all of their leaves pointing towards the tip of the stick. A guiding wand.

Eve moved closer to me as I dumped all of the sticks back into her bag except the one I was holding. I closed my eyes thinking about the stone platform and shook my head. When my head was sideways and the stick was pointing straight up, a ball of light shot from the tip as the stick disintegrated in my mouth. The light grew brighter as it flew up, and it grew larger. Eventually it stopped, blazing in the sky like a miniature sun. I knew we would find the platform directly beneath it.

Despite this it took us a while to find a path that would lead to the portal, and then another hour after that fighting our way through the army of feral Wurmples that had barricaded the road.

We landed next to another stream, so we both decided to take a break before moving on, (after I had checked the area thoroughly for snakes). After we took another long drink, I picked one of the paths leading out of the room and we followed it. This particular path lead us along for a while with very few branches. In fact the only fork we found was simply where the path looped around and crossed back over itself. Eventually the road straightened and stayed that way for a while. We were traveling east, I noted, and soon enough (as the path widened somewhat) I saw the shimmering wall of air that marked the end of the Dungeon.

"Well done Slink," Eve cheered as we moved towards the exit. I turned to smile at her, but I was cut off as she cried out.

I whirled around to see a tornado made of Fire flying at me. I tried to skip aside, but I was too late. The Fire didn’t harm me of course, but beneath it something solid and strangely furry smacked me hard enough to knock me off my feet. The flames died revealing the tiny Vulpix within. It pounced on Eve who, I assume, had also been knocked off her feet by the creature’s attack. Eve must have learned from the whole Ekans situation, as she almost immediately knocked the little fox away with a blast of Psychic energy.

Eve quickly rolled to her feet before charging the Vulpix. The little fox however was already running. An instant later it dove into the mouth of a small den dug into the side of the mountain.

When I caught up, Eve was staring uncertainly into the den entrance. “Just let it go,” I said.

“I can’t. The little sneak took my bag; slipped it right over my shoulders.” Eve dropped to her belly and began to crawl into the hole.

“It’s almost sunset,” I protested, “we need to get out of here before then!” Eve had already disappeared into the den, and she obviously wasn’t listening to me.

I knew that I had no other choice, so I dropped to my belly and began worming my way in after her. She was shorter than I was, but I was more lithe and flexible. I had to crouch, but my sides didn’t brush the dirt walls. After what seemed like hours of crawling the den opened up in front of me. I heard a constant roar as I wiggled out of the tunnel.

Once I was free from the tunnel I finally noticed what was happening within. Eve had her eyes closed and seemed to be in deep concentration. Two feet in front of her an angled pink shield of pure Psychic power held against the flames pouring from the mouth of the Vulpix. I closed my eyes as well and conjured my own energy, and using it to shore up Eve’s shield. Together our power was strong enough that I expected that it would have held against a Rhyhorn.

Eventually the Vulpix ran out of steam, and the stream of died. The thing just stood there panting heavily. Slowly, I dropped my shield, but Eve kept her’s up. She was eyeing the Vulpix as if she expected it to sprout poison fangs. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Eve’s bag laying abandoned by the mouth of the cave, well behind Eve.

“Eve, your bag is right there. Just grab it and let’s go.” She shot me a glare.

“It attacked me.” Eve grumbled.

“They were defending themselves ,” I said, “you did break into their house.”

“It stole my bag,” Eve argued.

I rolled my eyes at her. Then I took a look back at the Vulpix. They seemed downright terrified, I mean even more frightened than when Eve had run into the Ekans. I knew that we had just broken into their home, but that didn’t lead to the level of horror I saw in them now. Especially since they had chosen to engage us.

I stepped closer to the Vulpix, stepping through Eve’s shield.The Vulpix gave a little shriek as I stepped closer. “Hey,” I said softly, “I’m not going to hurt you. ” But me getting closer actually seemed to cause them pain as they pressed into the wall trying to get away.

“Okay,” I said, backing away slightly, “I’m not going to get any closer.” For some reason I felt extreme concern for this Vulpix. I gathered up my Psychic energy and sent a small tendril of thought towards them.

Immediately I felt a rush of thoughts and memories that threatened to overwhelm me. I tuned them out and began sifting through everything to try and find... I don't know. I honestly wasn't sure what I was looking for. I tried to stay focused as I wiggled deeper. A brilliant image came to me of the little fox sitting at the mouth of the den watching the sunset.

I quickly discovered a pattern. Every day without fail the little fox would sit at the mouth of the den and watch as the sun set. I flicked to a new day. The sun was at a different angle, and the landscape outside was slightly different, but the Vulpix still diligently watched as the sun went down.

I watched the days flash past, watching for something that stood out, but I also forged an understanding with the Vulpix.

I lost track of the days, but I was pretty sure I had delved at least five years backward into the Vulpix’s memories, but something had changed. The den, the landscape, and the sun were the same, except that a Mightyena sat next to the Vulpix watching the sunset as well.

I could tell that it was a male, and that he seemed uninterested in the entire thing. It was almost as if he watched more out of a sense of duty rather than choice. The Vulpix seemed to treat him like he had some sort of authority, but they didn't seem to be too close. I searched around for a few more memories of the Mightyena. I still couldn’t figure out their relationship. He was never close with the Vulpix, but I never saw anything like abuse. He wasn’t the reason the Vulpix was afraid.

I continued to move back through the memories. The Mightyena was only there for about a month or two, and then the Vulpix was alone again. I thought I was nearing the end, and that I was going to run out of memories when the final change occurred.

I could tell that this was a powerful memory as the others had all faded slightly with age. In this one everything was the same, but the baby Vulpix was with a fully grown, beautiful Ninetales.

Before I looked at the memory, I tried to inch backward another day, but this seemed to be the earliest thing the Vulpix could remember. I returned to the image of the Ninetales and let the memory play out.

I tried to shake off the feeling that I was intruding on something personal, but as the scene came to life before me I stopped to take it in.

The sun seemed to shimmer as it slowly sank in the sky. The meadow outside of the den was coated in shadow, and the rippling of the grass in the slight breeze gave the impression of an ocean.

My view suddenly shifted as the Vulpix snapped their head around to look at the Ninetales who had taken a few steps from the mouth of the den. Then surprisingly the Ninetales began to speak.

"I have to leave for a moment, my love." The words were so warm and I instantly knew that this beautiful creature before me was the Vulpix's mother. But the thing that stuck out to me the most were the mother’s eyes. The look in them were hauntingly familiar. There was a firm determination in them. It felt like she was psyching herself up for something. But they also sparkled with unshed tears, and there was pain behind her words.

"You can't come with me. Don't follow me. You must stay here." She paused briefly. Her tails lashed behind her nervously. " **Don't worry, I'll be back by the time the sun sets**." This final line echoed for a moment. I felt the importance of these words. They must have meant a lot to the Vulpix.

I heard the Vulpix whine as the Ninetales left, vanishing into the tall grass. The Vulpix sat there for a moment. They shifted impatiently, and several times they rose to their feet and then sat back down instantly as if they were debating with themselves. Eventually, they caved, got up, and plunged into the tall grass after their mother.

The young fox dashed through the grass silently. The thick foliage hid the young fox. Even someone looking for the Vulpix would have a hard time finding them. Thankfully the grass was full and long through one clearing and into the next. I could vaguely hear shouting, and even what sounded like battling. Eventually the Vulpix neared the edge of a clearing where the grass had been matted down. A brilliant red glow filled the clearing.

The baby fox ducked into the grass quickly as they realized that the glow was their mother; her nine tails glowing with heat and the Fire that flickered across them. "Threaten and bully me all you want," the Ninetales shouted into the night, "but stay the hell away from my child!" 

Silhouetted against the red glow I could see two dark forms. They circled the Ninetales menacingly. Suddenly they both charged towards the Ninetales. The big fox roared over her shoulder, breathing a huge inferno at the taller and faster of the two. The sudden light gave me a clear view of the attacking Pokèmon, and it led me to one conclusion.

It was hopeless.

The first figure was a Greninja, although it had taken me a moment to realize it, as the figure was almost entirely black. Its blood-red tongue shone in sharp contrast to the rest of its body. I felt a pit grow in my stomach as I realized it was shiny.

The Ninetales however didn't lose confidence. It struck again with a powerful Fire blast. The Greninja was slowed at it desperately dodged the flames, but the mother was still in danger.

Just as the Ninetales turned to run, the second figure, a huge tan Tyranitar with a bright purple belly struck out at the fox. The kitsune ducked aside, but the Tyranitar wasn't aiming at her. He struck the ground with his fist, and a huge shockwave exploded from that point. The earth began to crack apart from the massive seismic waves that shook the ground. The Ninetales tried to dodge the encroaching cracks, but that was when the second stage of the attack engaged.

Hot air blasted from the fissures as the energy deep within the earth was released. The Ninetales braced herself as the hot gas spewed over her. Any non Fire type would have been killed instantly. As it was the Ninetales had to be in terrible pain.

Red light exploded from the cracks arcing high into the air and forming a dome over the mountain pass. I felt my heart rate increase as I realized that I was watching the creation of a Mystery Dungeon.

Several minutes later the event ended. The Ninetales was still standing as the light faded. I felt a small amount of hope; that is until the Ninetales tried to take a step and she collapsed. Even if she was even still alive, she couldn’t have been conscious.

I watched as the Greninja pulled out a blade made of pure water and…

Enough. I pulled out of the Vulpix’s mind. I felt sick to my stomach for having intruded on such private, personal memory. And yet, I felt like I understood the Vulpix that much better. I also knew what I had to do.

I approached the fox slowly and quietly. "I know how you feel," I said, "I've lost my mother too."

Their head perked up at this. "I know what it is like to lose the most important person on earth. I understand that it hurts, and there is nothing you can do. But the way you have handled it was wrong."

The Vulpix scowled at me. "You shouldn't be alone. You need other people, not just to protect you, but to help you and to rely on. I met Eve here and she grows on you eventually."

"Hey what do you mean by that!" Eve cried. Then she stopped for a moment. "Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?"

"I think you should come with us," I said to the Vulpix.

"Are you crazy?" Eve said. Then she realized that she had said it out loud. "Sorry, er, could I speak with you for a moment." She yanked on my fur and pulled me to the opposite side of the cave. "Are you crazy? You want to take a feral with us?"

"Yes," I stated instantly, "why not?"

"Because we are a team and-"

"Look," I interrupted, "I may not know much about the Expedition Society, but I do know that a team is made up of at least three members."

"But we aren't able to raise a feral. That would be impossible."

"Who are you callin' a feral," a new voice shouted.

The little Vulpix was glaring daggers at Eve. Then in a smaller voice they said, "What is this team?" It was a little hard to tell, considering the Vulpix was still a child, but the voice was clearly . I glanced at Eve, but she had her mouth gaping open at the Vulpix.

"We are going to join a society bent on exploring the entire world. You need to join the society as a team." I tried to explain it, but I don't think I did a very good job.

"Explore the world?" I wouldn't have expected that to be the only thing the Vulpix retained. "I've never been outside of the mountains," she said. "The whole world...?"

"Do you want to join us?" Eve asked at least trying to extend the olive branch.

The Vulpix seemed to struggle with this for a moment before to herself. "No, I'll stay here."

"What! I thought you wanted to-" I cut Eve off before she could say anything more.

"That's fine," I said, "you don't have to come with us. I just want you to think about it. You have been alone in this den for six years. You haven't moved from these mountains in six years. Aren't you sick of it? Aren’t you tired of being alone?”

"I can take care of myself just fine!" the Vulpix snapped. "I don't need anyone else."

"You do need other people," I countered, "not just for survival, but for support. You need people who care about you and who will support you. I hate to say it, and I wish I didn't have to, but your mother is never coming back. You keep watching for her to return every evening more in desperation than hope that she will return. That isn't healthy. Eve and I are both moving on from something, why not you too?”

“I told Eve today. I have nobody else. We have to be family, and family looks out for one another.” I stepped closer to the Vulpix. “I promise we will take care of you. We won’t let anyone hurt you as long as we can help it. I’m not saying that you have to, but I think you should join our team.

I looked at Eve who grimaced and motioned to the Vulpix. She was crying, while at the same time fighting to hold the tears back. I hadn’t meant to make her cry, but she needed to hear what I said. I did the only thing that I could think of. I walked over to her and pulled her into my chest. She cried openly into my fur.

"I knew that she was never coming back," she cried as tears continued to fall from her eyes, "but I didn't know what else to do! I was alone and scared. I just had to hope that she would return eventually."

My stomach turned at the thought of this Vulpix alone in this cave for six years; doing all she could to stay alive. I knew that she needed someone in her life. She needed the chance to be a kid and to enjoy herself.

"When we make camp for the night," I told her, "we can talk about everything." She looked up at me and nodded.

The Vulpix stuck close to me as we walked back towards the mouth of the den. I picked up Eve’s bag as we passed it, and handed it to her. Eve was looking at me strangely, but I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. “Why don’t you go first,” I muttered to the Vulpix.

She nodded, before she crawled into the tunnel. She was small enough that she didn’t need to crouch. I turned to Eve. “I’m sorry,” I whispered to Eve.

“What for?” She whispered with just a hint of sarcasm.

I met her eyes to let her know I was serious. “This is your Expedition Team. I should have asked you before I asked her to join. But I couldn’t just leave her here.”

Eve smiled and shook her head. “It’s fine. Really. But why did you…?”

“Are you guys coming or what?” The Vulpix called from the tunnel.

“I’ll tell you later,” I muttered to Eve. I ducked into the tunnel with Eve following on my heels. “So,” I called ahead to where I could see the Vulpix’s eyes reflecting the light filtering in through the mouth of the tunnel, “do you have a name kid?”

“Ummm,” she said, as if that hadn’t occurred to her before, “I don’t think so. My mother just used to call me Vulpix.”

“What did the Mightyena call you?” I asked without thinking.

The little fox was silent for a moment before answering. “He always called me ‘Little Vixen’”.

“I’m definitely not calling you that,” Eve snorted from behind me. “How about...Vix? Can we call you Vix?”

The Vulpix cocked her head. “Vix? Yes, Vix is fine. I kinda like Vix.”

I smiled to myself as we went along. Vix had shot forward again and was waiting patiently at the mouth of the den. “So Vix, who was that Mightyena by the way?”

Vix flinched as I asked that question. Oops. Me and my big mouth. She was silent for a while, and neither Eve nor I dared to move. “I’m not sure, but I think he may have thought he was my father. My mother never talked about my father much. Apparently he left before I was born. She did mention something once about a Mightena, and I guess he was the guy. He taught me how to survive after my mother died. He just showed up out of the blue and taught me how to take care of myself. Before that I had gotten lucky, survived off of mushrooms and stored food, or just went hungry."

Thankfully Vix moved after saying that, so Eve and I could exit the tunnel. I looked around. We must have been in the tunnel for quite a while because I couldn’t see the sun anymore. It was really dark out now. “So the exit was this way right?”

Eve scrunched her eyebrows. “I thought it was that way.”

“Don’t ask me,” Vix said, “it’s way too dark to see anything anyway.”

My eyes snapped to the horizon as I realized our mistake. The sun had set and the dungeon was about to shift.

"Quick, back into the den!" I shouted.

"What?" Eve asked, but it was too late. There was a rushing sound, like a firm breeze, except it caused the trees to bow and the grass to flatten all around us.

There was a flash of light and suddenly Vix was gone! I cried out for Eve to run, but with a flash she was gone too.

In that moment I realized that Eve had set her bag down as she exited the den. It was still sitting there. If I didn't get it, it would be lost forever.

I took a flying leap and managed to hook one of my claws through the strap before I felt a tug in my gut as if someone had tied a rope around my stomach and pulled. The world went black for a moment with flashes of sound and color before I fell face first into a pile of foul smelling dirt.

"Slink what are you doing? You are getting ash all over my bag." I stood up and shook the soot and ash from my fur. It took me a second to realize that we had landed at our campsite from the night before. Eve had landed in her bed, Vix had landed in mine, and I had slammed into the fire pit.

"What was that?" Vix howled. "Where are we?"

"I promise I'll explain tonight, to both of you. But first I'd like to get this ash out of my fur."

I heard Eve grumble something that sounded like "oh now he wants to bathe" but I ignored it. 

As I washed off, Vix and Eve worked at the campsite. When I returned there was a third nest and a merrily crackling fire. I settled down between Eve and Vix, and then I got stuck. How was I ever going to explain this?

“What do you guys know about ley lines?” I asked hesitantly. Eve furrowed her brows, like she was trying to remember something, while Vix looked like I was speaking gibberish. To be fair, I kinda was.

Using my power I projected a glowing globe into the smoke above the fire. “Ley lines are where the earth’s natural power is concentrated.” On the globe, I drew a web of purple-white lines. “It's actually kind of interesting, because ancient civilizations used to settle along these lines, and they built all sorts of monuments and structures along them. Researchers were about to dismiss the theory of ley lines, but then they made a connection between them and Mystery Dungeons.”

I zoomed in on the map. “Where two, three or, for really special Dungeons, more ley lines intersect a Mystery Dungeon is created.” I paused for a moment as I thought about how best to present the next concept.

“What do you two know about the Multiple Universe Theory?” This time Eve nodded in recognition, and Vix looked at me like I was actually crazy. I bit my lip. “The general idea is that we exist in one of infinite dimensions, and every time there is a choice, or a different iteration of events can be reached, a new reality is created to follow both timelines.” Vix was shaking her head, so I decided I should move on. “So where these lines intersect, the raw power contained at that point is enough to make reality splinter.”

“Slink,” Eve said slowly, “I’m not quite sure I get it? Could you...er…”

I quickly drew a mountain on my globe with a bright blue line arcing directly over it. Underneath I drew the intersection of two ley lines. “So say this is the mountain pass in our dimension. In another it is like this.” I drew a purple line that was at a forty-five degree angle to the original. “And in another reality it is like this.” I drew a red line that zig-zagged over the mountain. “The ley lines cross here, so the raw energy of the earth is funneled through there. This causes the different realities to bleed together.” I erased all three lines and replaced them with a single black line that curved and twisted and doubled back.

“What about the stone platforms? The portals?” Eve asked.

I exhaled in a long sigh. My dad had done a much better job of explaining this all to me. Still I had to try. “Okay, so those are naturally occuring portals between layers of dimensions. Different combinations of reality.”

“Then why was this mountain pass a dungeon.” Eve said. “I know it wasn’t one nine years ago.”

“I think I know what happened,” I said trying not to look at Vix. “There is only one ley line that runs under this mountain, but there was a seismic event like an earthquake… or a mudslide that allowed it to get close enough to the surface for its power to leak out into the mountain. This results in a ‘weak’ Dungeon.”

“Ugggh,” Vix snapped, “who cares why the mountain is a Dungeon? Why were we sent here? What happened?”

I looked at Eve. “Remember how I said that you shouldn’t be in a Dungeon after sunset? That’s why. I wish there was a grass type here to explain it, but essentially life exists because of two sources of power that are in balance. The sun, which obviously works during the day, and the power in the earth. At night, the ley lines exert more power and within Dungeons this power remixes how the different realities graft together. We can’t exist in that space, so the Dungeon purged us back to the entrance more or less.

Vix looked confused. "But what about my den? Why did that never change?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly, "but I have a theory. I think that your cave was just on the edge of the line's influence. I think your presence in it, as a creature of this dimension anchored it to this reality."

"So you mean it won't be there anymore after tonight?"

I didn't answer, but my silence was all the answer she needed.

We were silent for more than a while. None of us knew what to say. Eventually Eve offered a solution. “Why don’t we all go to bed?” Eve said softly. “We have a big day tomorrow. Just think, by this time tomorrow, we will be an Official Expedition team!”

As I lay there in silence I couldn't help the thoughts racing through my mind. Honestly I felt a little bad about Vix. She had just lost her home, all she had ever known, because of me. I knew on some level that she had chosen to come with us, but I still felt guilty about the whole thing.

I had no idea how much time had passed. Vix had tossed and turned for a while, but eventually her breathing had assumed a deep even rhythm. The sound relaxed me, but I couldn't make my mind calm down enough to sleep.

"Pssst, Slink!" Eve's harsh whisper cut through the darkness.

"Yes," I replied.

"I'd just like to say... sorry about how I acted today. Especially with Vix and what I almost did to her." There was a quiet moment filled only with the crackling of the dying fire. “Slink, why did you ask her to join us? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to have her, but why her?”

I sighed. “Because she is in the same situation I was. You rescued me after only a few days, but she… she has been through so much.” I briefly relayed everything I had seen in Vix’s head to Eve.

“Right in front of her?” Eve asked horrified. “Oh, Arceus. How is she even functional after all that?”

“You become numb to it after a while,” I muttered.

“Slink. Jeez, I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s fine. But that is why I had to save her. She has avoided facing her loss her whole life. That just isn’t healthy. I saw in her what I would have become had I not met you. I probably would have searched for the Dreamstone until exhaustion turned me into worse than a feral.” I shook my head.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Eve asked. “It might make you feel better…”

“No,” I said firmly. Eve nodded, and I knew she wouldn’t push. “We should probably sleep. Big day and all that.”

I settled down, deliberately putting my back to Eve. Still, she called over to me. “Goodnight Slink.”

“Goodnight Eve,” I replied. 


	3. Small World

“Wow,” Vix said, her eyes wide, “this must be the biggest city in the world!”

I chuckled at that. I knew that there were cities on other continents that were much bigger. Treasure Town on the Grass Continent, and Lively Town on the Water Continent to name a few. But to a Vulpix who had only ever seen isolated groups of one or two Pokemon at a time, the chaos of Festive Town would impress her.

It was just barely afternoon. We hadn’t even gotten up any earlier that morning either. We had saved so much time in the dungeon this time around and we had Vix to thank for it.

I’d honestly have to call it an Arceus given gift. I had lead us through the first floor, and it hadn’t gone well. It was a complete disaster, and I am fairly certain that I had found every dead end in that Dungeon. At one point, Vix had stopped in the middle of a crossroads.

“Shouldn’t it be a right here?” she asked. Eve and I glanced at each other.

“Let’s go this way. If it’s a dead end we will try to the right.” We continued along until, of course, we hit a dead end. We backtracked until we reached the crossroads once again “So right, was it?” I asked Vix sheepishly. We started off that way, and surprisingly we ran right into the stone platform. 

On the next floor, I was still leading, but anytime Vix chimed in I made sure to take her advice. This time we cleared the floor in only five minutes. From then on I just let Vix lead. She seemed hesitant at first, but as we continued to clear floors in only a few minutes she became more confident. She was even so focused on her task that she hadn't noticed that her den was gone.

Once we left the Dungeon, Eve took the lead again. She lead us down the mountain, through the foothills that made up most of the coast, and into the largest city on the continent. Festive Town.

It had the usual hustle and bustle that all large towns had. Pokemon of all shapes and sizes rushed past us and occasionally bumped into us; although after Vix got pricked by a distracted Roselia and had to be healed with Eve’s Morning Sun move, we tried to be more careful. 

I was in awe of the sheer variety of creatures wandering around town. There were plenty of bipeds like Blaziken or Hypno, plenty of quadrupeds like Growlithe and Bayleef, and even some stranger ones like Munna, Ditto, and even a Carnivine. Above us Pidgeys, Fearows, and Pellipers flitted from rooftop to rooftop. I briefly wondered how larger Pokèmon, like Onyx, find houses as one slithered by us. Eve retreated behind me until after it had passed.

The west side of the city turned out to be the market district, which explained why there were so many Pokemon out and about. Apparently both the northern and southern sections of the town were residential areas, leaving the eastern end open for office buildings, restaurants, and of course the Expedition Society HQ.

"There it is!" Eve shouted excitedly. "The Flame Continent HQ for the Expedition Society! I never thought I'd see it!" 

I was a bit surprised that despite the crowds on the street, this seemed to be the one place without many people. While other stores saw droves of Pokèmon moving in and out the place in front of us looked dead and uninviting. The tall stone walls of the tower and the twisted stem of the telescope stretching from the domed roof gave the place a foreboding presence.

Above us a giant winged badge with a letter "E" inscribed on it hung over thick oak double doors. "Are we sure that we are in the right place? Other people aren't going in there."

For some reason I had a hollow pit in my stomach. Something about the look or feel of the building gave me a bad vibe. Two days ago I had offhandedly called the society a cult. Now I was starting to wonder.

"Well, of course nobody is going in. Only members or new recruits need to visit the office. Anyone who wants or needs help will appear in the connection orb." Eve looked at me, and a flash of concern crossed her face. "Are you okay, Slink?"

I was embarrassed by my paranoia, but I ended up saying, “Yeah, I’m good.”

Eve pushed through the heavy front door and into the huge lobby. The floors were thick smooth stone. White marble columns lined the walls holding up the domed ceiling capped with a huge glass skylight. A huge flight of stairs lead from the center of the room and disappeared into the depths of the huge building. There were a few comfortable chairs lining the walls, I assume for customers to wait. 

Eve spotted a Kadabra sitting behind a counter in the corner reading a thick book. She walked confidently up to him.

"Hello," she said, "we would like to join the Expedition Society!"

Without looking up the Kadabra pushed a clipboard over the counter and grumbled. "Fill this out. I will help you in one moment."

Eve didn't know what to do. She couldn't reach the clipboard much less write on it. She stood there looking awkward for a moment before coughing and saying, "Er... a little help please."

This time the Kadabra looked up. He looked wildly around the room for a moment before finally leaning down over the counter. "Oh, quadrupeds. I can help." He pulled the clipboard back over the table and began to write. "Names?"

"I'm Eve, he's Slink, and she is Vix."

The Kadabra scribbled on the paper. "Ages?"

"I'm seventeen, Slink is eighteen, and Vix is... er seven I think."

"Nine," Vix corrected rolling her eyes.

The Kadabra raised an eyebrow at me, but he moved on quickly. "Team name?"

Eve looked back at me. "I don't have any ideas. What do you think?

I thought about it for a moment, but nothing jumped to mind. I was just about to say so when I had an idea. "How about 'Mindflare' or 'Mindfire'. It fits. You are Psychic, Vix is Fire, and I'm both. It just works."

"I like 'Mindfire'," Eve smiled.

"Team Mindfire it is." The Kadabra said. "Alright, team symbol?”

"What?" Eve and I looked at each other.

"It's new. We found that having a symbol helps the paperwork and it allows more people to recognize you."

I saw that Eve was lost in thought. I tried thinking too, but I didn't know. Every design I thought of was either too simple, too complex, or was stupid.

I was just about to give up when it happened again. It was almost like a second voice whispering in my head. 

Quickly I projected the design in my head into the air. It was almost circular, but then again it looked kind of like a bird. It's body was a small trapezoidal nub at the base of the circle. The left wing was perfectly round and smooth ending in a sharp square edge. On the right was a jagged, yet flowing wing that almost met the other at the top of the circle. I sensed that something should fit within the circle, but I couldn't think of what.   
  


"Slink, I love it. Good idea!" Eve smiled as my projection slowly turned in the air. I watched as the Kadabra quickly yet carefully drew the symbol on his form.

"Okay final decision." The Kadabra looked at us. "Team leader?"

"Of course it's Eve!” I said.

"Of course it's Slink!" Eve said at the same time.

Eve and I just stared at each other. "This was your goal from the start.” I said. “You knew where to go, and you packed supplies. You should be the leader."

Eve shook her head. "You led us through the Dungeon, you fought and protected me, you convinced Vix to join us, and you came up with the team name and symbol. It should be you."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Vix asked sarcastically.

"Shut up, Vix," Eve and I said at almost the same time.

The Kadabra looked almost amused. "I guess you both could be co-leaders if you want.”

Eve and I met eyes again. She shrugged and nodded. "Sure. We could do that.”

The Kadabra noted that down and then looked back over the form. He made a few more notes, and then reached below the desk and got another sheet of paper and a towel. He took a bottle of ink and poured a small black puddle onto the extra paper. He handed the ink and the towel down to us. "I just need a mark from both leaders and then I can submit this form."

I placed my front left paw into the ink and then firmly pressed it against the paper. Eve did the same. 

The Kadabra smoothly grabbed the form, curled it into a tube and slipped it into an envelope. He then stood, and concentrated. His body began to glow pink, and shimmer. With a brilliant blue-pink flash he vanished. Eve and I exchanged glances. A few moments later, a pink cloud of energy appeared where the Kadabra had been. With another blinding flash of light, the Kadabra appeared once again. He sat down at his desk like nothing had happened.

"I gave it to the administrators of the Society over on the Water continent.” He said as if teleporting a continent away was perfectly normal. “They will review it and hopefully approve it within the next two to three days. You kids have a place to stay?"

"What do you mean?" Eve asked. "Don't we get to live here?" 

The Kadabra shook his head. "Only solo applicants are able to live here in the dorms. You guys will need to find a house or apartment or something."

"Umm," I began, about to explain that we had no idea where to start when the Kadabra interrupted me.

"Look old Gloom about six blocks to the north rents out apartments for reasonable prices. He will help you out." He smiled at us. "Good luck."

"Thank you for helping us," I told the Kadabra as we left the building.

"How much money do we have?" I asked Eve before we could get too far. 

Eve looked in her bag for a moment and then smiled at me. "I have 5,000P. We will be fine.”

* * *

“Small apartments are 2,000P a month, medium apartments are 5,000P a month, and large ones are 7,000P a month.”

I was shocked by the price. I mean I had lived in a rather large house with my family for the last eight years, and it had only cost 210,000P. Of course that was a house out in the country. I guess city life would be more expensive.

Mr. Gloom’s building was a squat three story building that took up the whole side of the block. It was essentially three long hallways stacked on top of one another with a wide staircase in the center and another on either end. Mr. Gloom’s desk sat in the center of the bottom floor.

“Can we see a small apartment?” Eve asked. I stayed quiet and let her talk. It was her money, and I certainly wasn’t going to tell her how to spend it.

"Sure," the Gloom said grabbing an enormous ring of keys from the desk and waddling down the hallway to the right. 

We followed him down the hall until he stopped and unlocked a thick wooden door. Vix was the first one in, ducking between the Gloom's legs and into the apartment. Coincidentally she was also the first out of the apartment. 

"Nope!" She said as she passed by us. Eve rolled her eyes at the young Vulpix and walked in with me close behind her. 

My first impression was to agree with Vix. It wasn't a very big apartment. The first room we walked into was a combination living room and kitchen, each blurring into the other. It didn’t look enough like either to be considered normal. There was a small couch (really more of a loveseat), a TV and a small table, but there wasn't much else. 

In the back of the room two doors ran along the wall. One led to a tiny bathroom with barely enough room for the toilet, a bathtub, and a sink. The other led into a bedroom with two beds. I didn’t say anything, but I really didn’t like it. If anyone else joined our team we wouldn't have enough rooms or beds. And that was even accounting for the fact that one of us would almost certainly be sleeping on the couch every night. But for the here and now it would work. Again I left it up to Eve since she had the money.

"Mr. Gloom, sir, could we see a medium apartment." Eve obviously was thinking the same way as me. 

"Absolutely, and don't call me Mr. Gloom. My name is Gregory, alright?"

He locked the door behind us before leading us back into the main lobby and up a set of stairs. We wandered down another hallway and stopped before an identical looking door. 

This time Vix wasn't so eager to go in. She followed closely behind me as we entered. Already it was much better. 

The main room was larger than the entire last apartment and it drew a thicker line between the living room and kitchen areas. There were two bedrooms in this one and both had two beds. A slightly larger bathroom was squeezed between the bedrooms. 

Eve pulled me aside in one of the bedrooms as Vix and Gregory moved to explore the main room. “I’d like your opinion before we decide this.”

I paused, weighing my words carefully. “I think a small apartment will work,” I said slowly, “but if we gain any more teammates then we won’t be able to fit. I honestly like the medium apartment more…” I cringed as Eve raised an eyebrow at me. “I am worried about the price.” I added quickly.

Eve smiled. “I feel the same way. I don’t really want to live my life worrying about whether we will have enough money. Will we make enough through the Expedition Society?” Eve sounded nervous and that bothered me. I was used to her at least acting confident even when she was unsure.

“We could always ask Gregory about how much Society members make?” I suggested.

Eve seemed to relax a little. “Why didn’t I think of that? Thanks Slink.”

When we asked Gregory he just laughed at us. "You'll be fine. Even the worst Expedition Society teams bring in at least 500P a week.”

"That's only 2,000P a month," Eve argued. "We’d still need another 3,000P a month just to break even!"

"I said the worst teams bring in 500P a week." Gregory eyed us approvingly. "Even by just looking at you I can tell that you'll be a great team. They can bring in as little as 1,000P a week."

Eve blushed and tried to protest. "But-"

"-And if you aren't that good you can always sell objects that you come across in dungeons. Or you could work odd jobs of you need more. Slink, you are a Fennekin right?"

"Yes," I replied nervously.

"When I first opened this building I hired a Delphox to enchant the doors to be unbreakable. I'm no expert, but everyone told me 1,000P per door was a fair price. After everything he did for me I ended up giving Flare 2,000P for every door. If you can do something similar then you could make plenty of money."

I had stopped listening after Flare. Could it be? "You said Flare right?!" 

"Hmmm," he said, "er yes Flare that was the Delphox's name."

"Is something wrong Slink?" Eve asked. 

"Flare is my father..." I whispered.

"Flare is your father!" Gregory exclaimed excitedly. "So he did become mates with that Braixen he told me about.”

“Mystic,” I muttered numbly.

“Mystic! That was her name. Huh, small world. Oh I'm happy for him. So how's your old man doing?"

I couldn't speak. Even here away from it all I couldn't escape the memories. I felt the box in my head trying to break open. 

Eve took pity on me. "Gregory, you couldn't have known, but Slink's parents were killed recently-"

"By who?! When?! You are a member of the Society! You could send a team to bring the murderers to justice!"

"-but he doesn't want to talk about it." Eve finished lamely. 

"Oh. I'm sorry boy. Your father was a good man and a friend." Gregory looked like he wanted to say more, but he bit his lip. 

"Mr. Gregory we will take the medium room. Could you leave us for a moment to... er settle in?" Eve looked pointedly at Gregory.

"Yes, of course. I'll send you a statement tomorrow with your final bill and the building rules. I'll see myself out then." Gregory toddled quickly for the door stopping just long enough to place the keys on the kitchen table.

Vix and Eve glanced at each other and at me. I was too shocked to notice. Finally Eve said, "Well it is getting late. We might as well go to bed. Should we do girls in one room and-"

"Dibs on my own room!" Vix shouted sprinting to the right bedroom. "See you two in the morning!" She threw the door open and slammed it shut just as quickly.

Eve opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it. 

"Well I guess I have the couch and you have the bedroom..." I tried before Eve started shaking her head.

"Nonsense. There are two beds. Besides we are the team leaders. We may have to stay up later at night in order to do work or something, or we might want to go to bed early. Having our own room makes sense." Eve smiled. "Come on, I'll even let you chose your bed."

* * *

The next morning I woke up in the bed closest to the door. I could tell that it was just barely morning, as grey light barely filled the room. Eve snored softly in the other bed and I wondered what time it was. I wasn't used to being the first one up.

I stretched and yawned before realizing that I was hungry. Then it occurred to me that we didn't have any food. Sure we had a few more berries in Eve's bag, but when we had put them our new refrigerator last night they hadn’t looked too good. Several of them were shriveled. One Lum berry she had we had to throw out because it was molding. 

Quietly I moved over to the desk that stood at the foot of the two beds and hopped on top. Eve’s bag way laying on its side where she had tossed it the night before. I poked my nose into it and rooted around until I found a small leather pouch that I could hang from my neck. I opened another pocket and silently filled it with money. I counted out 100P and put everything else back.

Before I left, I jotted a quick not to Vix and Eve about where I was going. I grabbed the keys off the table and barely managed to lock the door behind me.

The building was empty this early in the morning. Even Gregory wasn’t at his desk. I hoped that my key would let me back in the front door if it was locked. I retraced our steps from yesterday, passing by the dark and dormant Expedition HQ and into the Market District. 

There were nowhere near as many people in the market this morning. But every stall was open, so I got started. The first thing that I did, was find a stall that sold leather messenger bags like Eve’s. I figured that I couldn’t carry all of our groceries by myself, and besides it always helped to have a spare.

Ten minutes later and 20P poorer I walked out with a completely pitch black bag. I planned on having our team symbol stamped onto it eventually.

It took me a few hours to get all of the shopping done, but I did it with 1P to spare. In that time the sun had peeked up over the mountains, and more Pokemon had come out onto the streets. Here and there I caught snippets of conversations but nothing really caught my attention. That is…

"...heard they attacked another village... kidnapped anyone who was shiny... everyone else disappeared...

I stopped in my tracks and strained my ears just to catch another word. "...the Hatred strike again...

I turned quickly toward where an Arcanine and an Absol were talking. "I’m sorry. I couldn’t help but overhear, you were talking about team Hatred." I tried to keep my voice calm, but my heart rate was rising and I couldn’t keep my voice low. "Where is this village that was attacked? What do you know about team Hatred?

The two older Pokèmon turned to me. "I don't know," the Absol said, "I just heard it from a buddy of mine in the Expedition Society.

“Who is he?” I asked. I knew my breath was coming hard and fast at this point, but I wasn’t sure if I could stop it. “Maybe I could talk to them and…?” 

"Look kid, none of us know anything. Why do you care so much?" I could tell the Arcanine was trying to calm me down, but I didn't want to calm down.

I was about to shout another question. I was about to make these two understand, but then I heard another familiar voice. "Slink?”

I whirled around and came face to face with Eve. “Slink? Are you okay? Who are these two?”

I turned back to the the Arcanine and Absol, but they had wandered off towards the market. Every now and then they looked back at me with expressions of fear.

I sighed. “Hey, Eve. They mentioned something about…” I froze. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get Eve involved in this. I cast about for something to tell her,” ...Lake Ogon, where I used to live. I was asking them about it.” 

Eve raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t ask any questions. I did feel bad for lying, but I also wasn’t about to open up. Not yet. “I was headed to HQ this morning,” she said after a pause, “I wanted to ask that Kadabra a few questions about our application.”

“Are you feeling a little antsy?” I asked.

"You know why it's a big deal Slink. We can barely pay the rent as is, and we won't have a job at the Expedition Society for a few more days. We need to be smart with our money.” She glared at me. “I wish that you would have woken me up before you came shopping. And did you really need a new bag?”

“Whoa,” I protested, “we needed everything that I bought. And I couldn’t get it back to the apartment without a bag.” 

Eve sighed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped but still.”

“I get it,” I said, “and I’m sorry that I didn’t wake you up before I took your money.”

“Wait a minute, you did take my money didn’t you…?” Thankfully we arrived at HQ’s front doors right at that moment so I didn’t have to answer.

A bell happily jingled as we entered the lobby. The Kadabra was still sitting behind his desk reading a book. A brown paper package was sitting on the desk, and there was a black symbol on it, but I couldn’t see it very clearly. The psychic type looked up as we entered, and he perked up excitedly. 

“Well if it isn’t Team Mindfire. You know, I was just about to come see you guys.” He leaned forward and pushed the package over the desk. Eve and I exchanged a glance before she reached out and levitated the package down to us. 

“Are you kidding?” Eve said excitedly. Stamped across the front of the brown paper was our team symbol.

“You are officially part of the Expedition Society,” the Kadabra said with a smile. “It was one of the quickest responses I’ve ever seen. I hear that one of the the board members over on the Water Continent gave you guys his personal recommendation.”

“Who?” Eve asked looking completely bewildered. I was on the same page. I knew that my father had grown up over on the Water Continent, but I had never been there. Who would give me a recommendation? 

The Kadabra shrugged. “I hear it was one of their most esteemed retired members. He’s an old Lucario named Phoenix. Do either of you know him?

I shrugged. “I’ve never heard of him.”

“Oh, well,” the Kadabra said. “He obviously believes in you guys. You guys can come back later and we can get you started on your first assignment!”

Eve and I stumbled out of there simply stupefied. It didn’t completely solve our financial problems, but it was a start. 

We didn’t speak to each other all the way home. We wandered in the door and nodded to Mr. Gloom as we passed his desk. “Slink, Eve! Hey, one second guys.” We paused as he slid a piece of paper across the desk. “"Here is your contract for the apartment. Y’all just have to sign at the bottom. Hey, I'm sorry if I embarrassed or hurt you yesterday."

“It's fine," I said dismissively. Eve grabbed the paper and was about to slip it into her bag when something must have caught her eye. "Sir, I think you made a mistake. You only charged us 30,000P for the year. That is only slightly more than the price for a small room. We are in a medium apartment."

"I see no mistake. I see a favor I'm doing for my friend's kid."

I almost panicked. "Sir, I cannot accept this. My parents taught me to never accept charity."

Gregory laughed. "This ain't charity. I'm just paying back a debt. Remember how I was going to pay your dad 2,000P for each door he charmed? Well I didn't have the 60,000P he deserved. I had just opened the place after all. Our solution was that I would let him or any of his family stay for a reduced price in any of my rooms." He looked at me seriously. "I still gotta make money, but I also have 60,000P to give you. By my math you can stay in your current place for two years at 30,000P a year. Sound good?"

I nodded softly before Eve and I headed up the stairs to the apartment. I still couldn’t believe our luck. I was extremely conscious of the package in my bag, and the letter in Eve’s. Who knew what else today would bring?

I opened the door, but Vix didn’t even look up. She was lying splayed out on the couch staring enraptured at the TV. I was a little surprised that she was watching the news. Then I realized that it was her first time seeing a TV. Any of the tiny people in the magic window box would have her hypnotized. As we walked in Slowpoke was just starting his weather forecast.

Eve set her bag down on the table, and then practically ripped my bag away from me to get at the package inside. “Oh, hey guys. What’s going on?”

“We got accepted into the Expedition Society,” Eve babbled excitedly as she ripped into the package. “We get to go on missions today!”

Vix raised an eyebrow at me. I could only shrug. 

"And now breaking news from the Scale Mountains-" Meowth was cut off in his news report as Vix shut the TV off. 

"Alright I'm bored. Are we going on an adventure?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Thank you to Oculus049 for drawing the Team Mindfire Symbol. Check out their PMD story, Dual Realities, if you get a chance.


	4. Team Hatred

The trees seemed to close in on us. Their thick boughs arced overhead, almost intertwining into a thick canopy. The mid afternoon sun filtered slowly through the thick foliage giving everything a cheerful green glow.

Eve and I studied the words that were scrolling down the face of the small circular tablet that had been included in our package. The mission objective claimed that the object we were looking for, a young Honedge's scabbard, was only three floors in, but from just looking at the Dungeon I was scared to go in.

I pressed the green orb on the top of the Expedition Gadget. The screen flashed before a perfect replica of the Pokemon Nexus map projected out from the screen, hovering in the air. I pressed the red orb and the floating globe began to spin. It slowly grew larger as it focused in on the Fire continent until it suddenly stopped with a small glowing blue marker pointing at where we were. This Dungeon was at the base of the Scale mountains, much farther south than where we had met Vix. 

I pressed the purple orb. Suddenly a web of purple lines exploded across the map. No wonder this Dungeon scared me so much. Three ley lines intersected beneath it.

“Come on guys, can we go?” Vix was obviously growing impatient. “We’ve been in Dungeons before and if anything happens we have these.”

Vix puffed out her chest proudly displaying the badge that I had carefully pinned to it. It was almost an exact replica of the Expedition Society's logo except instead of a giant letter "E" it had our team symbol. Bluish- white light shone from behind the symbol. We had been instructed that these badges would teleport us back to HQ if we pressed them once, show us where our other teammates were if pressed twice, or create a dimensional bubble that we could hide in until a rescue was organized if pressed three times. The package also contained a small bag with over 40 badges inside, so we had more to expand our team.

“Sorry,” Eve said to Vix. “You’re right. Let’s go.” As we passed under the trees and through the barrier of air that marked the Dungeon entrance Eve glanced back nervously. “I don’t know why I feel so nervous. I just have a weird feeling.”

Once we were in the Dungeon, Vix took the lead. I still didn’t understand how, but every time she was faced with a decision, Vix always chose the correct path. Within five minutes we had found the portal to the next floor. 

The second we landed on the next floor I felt my gut jerk like someone had kicked it. I strained my eyes looking in every direction to try and find what was wrong. I sent out Psychic energy trying to find anything out of the ordinary. Nothing. 

Just as soon as it started however the odd feeling disappeared. In retrospect I should have said something to Eve and Vix, but in the moment I didn’t want to worry them over what was probably nothing.

We had landed in a tiny room with only one exit. Vix lead us over, but before leaving the room she hesitated. “What’s wrong?” Eve asked.

“I...don’t know,” Vix answered. “This is going to sound crazy, but I think the easiest path through the Dungeon was just cut off.”

“What?” Eve and I just stared at her. 

“Look, I know exactly where the portal is from here. Take a left here, the second right, the third left, the northwest exit, and then the first right. I just can’t shake the feeling that there is some danger between the third left and the northwest exit.” 

“Vix,” I said gently, “you can’t possibly know that.”

“But, I do!” Vix insisted. “I don’t understand it any better than you do, but I know!” Vix sat silently for a moment. “I think there might be a longer path we can take. It is a bit out of the way, but it feels safe. Should we take the safe path or… maybe the feeling I have is wrong?”

I felt a shiver down my spine. Perhaps Vix  _ was  _ right. At least about the danger. I made a mental note to look into her Dungeon senses later.

“Vix, I’d rather be safe than sorry. Let’s go the safe route.” The little Vulpix nodded before leading on.

We followed Vix for a while. She didn’t even pause at any fork in the road. Even though we were taking the scenic route, we were moving so fast I doubted it would even matter in the long run. It actually would have been fun exploring the Dungeon except that I couldn’t escape the feeling that we were being watched.

The path ahead of us split in two much like a “T”. For the first time since we had entered the Dungeon, Vix completely stopped at the crossroads. “Vix, what’s going on?” Eve asked. “Did you lose the path?”

Vix shook her head. She turned slowly in a circle looking like she was about to be sick. “I didn’t lose the path. The path is still there, but something tells me that we shouldn’t follow it. It feels like…” Vix paused to think. Her eyes grew wide. “...there isn’t a safe path anymore.”

The bushes behind us rustled and cracked as a pure black Greninja leapt out of them. He stood in the middle of the path in a ready stance. He wasn’t about to attack us, I realized with a jolt, he was here to keep us from leaving. 

I growled as a huge Tyranitar with a bright purple belly crashed out of the foliage and barricaded the path to the right. At the same time a lithe Umbreon with brilliant blue rings and striking yellow eyes leapt out of the bushes to the left. Eve and Vix pressed closer to me as we watched the three of them close in on us. 

“Hello weary Society members.” I flinched as the Umbreon spoke. His voice wasn’t necessarily deep, but it was extremely, uncomfortably, smooth and soothing. “We are here to represent Team Hatred. I believe you have heard of us?”

“No,” Vix answered trying not to let the fear show in her voice. The bottom of my stomach dropped out. My mind immediately flashed back to the conversation I had overheard this morning between the Arcanine and Absol. _“...heard they attacked another village...the Hatred strike again…”._ I remembered the small snippet of the news I had heard before we left, _“And now, breaking news from the Scale Mountains-”._ How come I hadn’t figured it out? How could I have brought my team to this Dungeon?

“We weren’t talking to you.” The Greninja snarled. Vix tucked her ears close to her head and ducked down between Eve and me. I thought back to the memory of Vix’s mother’s death. There had been a shiny Greninja there that night. I wondered…

“Don’t mind Smoke,” the Umbreon said. “Look we don’t want any trouble friends.” He smiled toothily at us. I couldn't help but shudder as his gaze settled on me. “We only request that you turn that Fennekin over to us.”

My blood ran cold. That was all the confirmation that I needed. It was the Hatred that night!

“No,” Eve snapped, “he’s a part of our team. We aren’t going to give him to you!”

“I don’t think you understand,” the Umbreon said icily, “he is wanted for crimes against our organization. He’s a criminal.”

"You’re one to talk. I don't care what he's done!" Eve stared the Umbreon down. The part of my brain that wasn’t in full on panic mode wondered why Eve was being so assertive against the Umbreon. It was strange; since these three had appeared Eve had yet to turn away from the Umbreon. I’m not even sure if she knew what the other Pokemon were. HEr shoulders were tense, not like she was ready to fight, but like she fully expected something painful. "I've heard about your 'organization' and if only half of the stories are true any crime against you should be considered a public service!"

“If you don’t turn him over, I will have to consider your entire party equally guilty.” The Umbreon smiled at us, but it never reached his eyes. “Watch yourselves. You don’t want us as your enemies. Be careful, Eve.”

I was stunned. How did he know Eve's name? It couldn't have been a fluke or knowledge attained prior to now because he didn't know my name.

Eve had a different reaction. She snapped. Her gem glowed almost white with the amount of power she was gathering. With a yell she released it as a bolt of power at the Umbreon.

His fur rippled a bit as it struck him, but that was it. No flinch, no damage, he hadn't even taken a step back. "Are you done?" he sneered. "You can't hurt me. I'm a Dark type, stupid. You are such a-"

We never heard what Eve was because at that moment a starburst of Fire exploded across the Umbreon's chest. He cried out in pain as he flew back from the force of the blow. The flames flung him off the path and deep into the trees. I didn't let the Fire die within me yet.

"Vix, flamethrower!" I shouted before pouring flames into the Tyranitar's face. He flinched backwards in surprise, but then he snarled and began marching through the torrent of flames at me. The type disadvantage was about to kill me! The fire then became hotter and moved with more force. Vix was with me now.

The Tyranitar stumbled back under our combined onslaught before thundering back into the thick trees, roaring in pain the whole way. I stopped to take a breather, but that was clearly a mistake. I heard a sharp buzzing sound at the edge of my hearing. Before I could even move, something shot by only inches from my head and slammed into the rock wall of the corridor. Instead of bouncing off or shattering the blade dissolved and splashed to the ground.

“What was that?” Vix asked. Instead of answering I shoved my shoulder into her, knocking her aside as a second blade shot through the space she had previously been occupying. 

I half-glanced back only to see the Greninja preparing another Water Sharrukin. “Run!” I screamed to Eve before I grabbed the scruff of Vix’s neck in my mouth and took off running down the corridor. 

I was vaguely aware of Vix screaming directions at me as I ran. (“Left, left! Now right! No your other right!”) It was all I could do to keep ahead of the Greninja and dodge the numerous Water Shuriken, Dark Pulses, and Shadow Balls he was chucking at me every second. 

I was completely turned around by the time I lost the Greninja, but I didn’t slow down. There were three of them, and any one of them could be after me. “Slink!” I heard Vix scream. “The fork ahead, you need to take the-” she was cut off as a dark paw shot out of the bushes to the left. I felt a sudden pain flare in my ankle as he grabbed and held on, and I tripped. Vix went flying as the Umbreon burst from the bushes and pounced on me. 

“Run Vix!” I yelled before I turned up my inner Fire. My fur combusted in an instant, forcing the Umbreon away from me. I scrambled to my feet and darted down the right fork in the road, still partially on Fire. The Umbreon was close behind me, but I was just a little faster than him. I hoped that I had taken a different path than Vix. It wouldn’t do to have to carry her again. 

The path suddenly opened up into a meadow with several thick trees growing in the middle like islands in the sea. I hesitated. I had a somewhat respectable lead. Should I keep moving or try to hide in this room? 

The decision was made for me as I heard pounding footsteps coming down the corridor behind me. I dove behind a random tree and tried to quiet my breathing. 

I heard rather than saw the Umbreon enter the room. The grass whispered under his paws as he moved around. I became completely still, holding my breath, and hearing the frantic beating of my heart in my own ears. I was amazed that he hadn’t heard it by now.

“I know you are in here.” He suddenly said. “You can’t hide from me.” I had to convince myself that he didn’t actually know where I was. It had to be a bluff, right? “Dark trumps Psychic you know. That has so many more benefits than just protecting me from you reading my mind.”

There was complete silence for a moment, and then I went blind. Or at least that's what I thought happened. The world became pitch black smothering everything in darkness. I felt my head begin to swim and I swayed dizzily. Dark Void, I realized.

I fought back against the darkness trying to crush me, and as I did, I began to see some light. I could see the ground in a small circle around my feet.

The harder I pushed against the Darkness, the more aware I became of my heartbeat. It was loud, deafening. Each pound was excruciating, and I wasn’t sure whether my head or my heart would explode first. It was too much! I couldn't fight back!

I closed my eyes and prepared to give in, but then a thought flickered to life in my mind. It was flighty and insubstantial, like a Butterfree, but it was there. An image of my father.

I focused as much as I could on that thought. Immediately, I felt a tingle in my stomach and my head became clearer. Quickly, I tried to pull as many important memories together. My father, my family, my home... but they were all gone.

My brain began to fog again. Everything I knew and loved was gone. Hell, if I hadn't met Eve I would probably have…

Eve... and Vix... the Dreamstone…

It was like I had stuck my head into a cold waterfall. My brain snapped into clarity. I opened my eyes and found that I was able to see the trees through a thick black fog. Eve, Vix, the Dreamstone, Eve, Vix, the Dreamstone! With every thought the fog seemed to get thinner. Eve, Vix, the Dreamstone! With a final thought the darkness shattered. I relaxed as I sighed in relief, but then the Umbreon tackled me.

If I had been asleep or stunned as he'd hit me, I wouldn't have stood a chance. Thankfully, I was able to steal a little bit of his momentum and roll away from him. We stood there face to face both crouched and anticipating the fight. 

"I'll admit," the Umbreon said, "I'm impressed. It takes a very powerful Psychic type to resist a full Dark Void. Unfortunately for you, that same talent won't save you from me. You should just surrender and make it easy."

I growled at him in response. He chuckled. "Down boy," he chided. "At least this will get you away from Eve."

I calculated quickly before asking. "Why do you want me to be apart from Eve?"

"Didn't she tell you?" he scoffed. "Why, I was her-"

I would have loved to hear the rest of his answer, but I saw him let his guard down for just the tiniest moment. I took the opportunity and struck.

I opened my mouth and unleashed the most powerful Flamethrower attack I could produce (and considering how terrified I was, it was pretty powerful). The Umbreon tried to dodge, but I had been expecting that. I aimed towards the Umbreon’s left side, forcing him to dodge right, right into the bole of the tree. He couldn’t do anything as waves of fire washed over him. I was glad for the roaring flames in my ears. That way I didn’t hear his screams of pain.

My Fire died, as he slumped against the tree. Patches of fur were missing from his face. His right eye was swollen shut by burns. I didn’t know if I had killed him, or if he was merely unconscious. Honestly, I didn’t want to hang around long enough to find out. 

I fled back down the corridor towards where we had separated, but I got lost almost immediately. I stopped to rest once I hit my second dead end. I needed a game plan, otherwise I would probably never find the others.

In retrospect, the answer was fairly obvious. I placed my paw over my Expedition Badge and pressed it twice. There was a momentary flare of blue-white light, but then nothing happened. I was about to press it again when light exploded out of the badge projecting onto the ground. The light didn't stop there. It split in two and rushed off down the corridor drawing lines behind it as it went.

I followed the lines until they led to a y-shaped fork. There the lines split, each heading down a different path. What was I supposed to do now?

The line that veered right had a faint orange tint to it. Looking at it, I knew it would take me to Vix. Conversely the other line had a subtle pink hue. It would lead me to Eve.

Unfortunately this understanding didn't help me make a decision. Who needed my help more? The immediate answer was Vix. I had only known her for two days, but I could tell that she was more likely to stay and fight rather than warp out. On the other hand every Team Hatred member that had come after us had been a Dark type. Leaving Eve alone would leave her defenseless.

Against my better judgement, I decided to find Vix first. I tried to reason with myself that Eve could always warp out of the dungeon, and that despite my doubts we would need Vix's almost unnatural affinity with the dungeon to finish the mission, but I didn't feel any better

I followed the orange line as it swerved and turned through the dungeon. I had to admit that it was guiding me almost as well as Vix did. Briefly I wondered if Vix was using her Badge to navigate, but I dismissed this thought almost at once. The Badges could only lead you to another badge. 

The line suddenly turned into a narrow corridor with extremely tall and steep walls. I wouldn’t have even considered it as a path, but the orange line ran directly through it. Well, I say through it. Halfway down the corridor the line stopped.

I’m not too proud to admit it. I swore. Loudly. Had Vix dropped her badge? Had the Hatred captured her? Had she returned to HQ? 

Then I heard something. The sound of muffled heavy breathing. The sound of someone who had just run a long way and was hoping to hide. “Vix?” I called out tentatively.

There was only silence for a moment, and then… “Slink? Slink is that you?”

“Yeah, It's me,” I called back looking around. It seemed like she was right here, but there wasn’t enough room on the path for her to be anywhere near me.

“Up here,” Vix taunted. I looked. Three quarters of the way up the left cliff a deep indentation about the size of a mailbox defaced the dungeon wall. Vix had squeezed herself in it with only her smirking face showing.

“Where’d you find that?” I asked.

She slid down the wall, feet splayed wide and her tails fanned out behind her like a parachute. It didn’t exactly help though because she quickly lost control and crashed right on top of me. I clawed my way back to my feet and squeezed out of the other end of the narrow path with Vix still on my back. Once we were free I glanced back at her as she slipped off of my back. We couldn’t help it, we both started laughing.

“I honestly have no idea. The big Tyranitar was chasing me, but I was much faster. I managed to get a little ways ahead of him. My plan was to hide and then double back once he had passed, but then I was forced down that corridor. I would have been fine, but then I…” she seemed to search for a word, “... sensed I guess that the Greninja was coming from the other end. I was pinned down.”

“The Greninja,” I interrupted. “If he and the Tyranitar were after you, who was chasing Eve? Did she get away?”

“I don't know,” Vix admitted her eyes shining with worry.

“It's okay,” I backpedaled before Vix got upset, “we will deal with that when we need to. So the two had you pinned down…”

“Yeah,” Vix continued hesitantly, “so I had nowhere to go. I hoped with all of my heart for a hiding place, a way out. Then, I don't really know what happened. I looked up and that nook just appeared. It hadn't been there a second earlier. I wasn't going to look a gift Rapidash in the mouth. I scrambled as quickly as I could into that hole.”

My mind was racing. The Hatred had wanted me, they’d known Eve. Vix had seen them coming somehow, and somehow she had created a hiding place for herself. Right now I had so many questions, and not a lot of answers. Vix was looking at me for leadership, so I knew I had to make a decision soon.

“Let's find Eve. I took out the Umbreon for the moment, but when he comes to he is going to be mad. Forget the mission, at this point we need to find Eve and get out.”

Vix nodded earnestly as I pressed my badge again sending a pink line racing through the dungeon. “This will lead us to Eve,” I explained to Vix. Together we plunged into the dungeon.

It took us three turns before Vix figured out our destination. “This is taking us to the portal. Eve must have made it to the next floor.” I didn't even bother questioning it at that point and sure enough the stone platform was in the next clearing we came across.

I told Vix to hold tight to me before we moved on. She rolled her eyes at me, but she did as I asked.

We landed on the next floor and stood perfectly still. We revolved slowly in a circle scanning every which way for anything. Movement, the rustle of a tree branch, anything. Nothing. We were completely alone.

“Vix,” I asked still carefully scanning, “what can you tell me about this floor.”

She didn't even bat an eye. “There are three long clearings each attached to each other at the top and bottom. The dungeon exit is in the farthest clearing from where we are, and I think someone is in the middle one.”

“Friendly?” I asked.

“I’m honestly not sure,” Vix said, “but unless it is the Greninja, I think we can take them.”

On that reassuring note, we started towards the path. Vix, despite her bravado about taking out the Hatred members, cowered behind my legs. 

“You are such a question mark to me sometimes,” I grumbled as we crept through the passage.

When we reached the second clearing, Vix stopped completely. I held a paw toe up to my lips as I slowly peeked around the corner. 

“It's fine,” I whispered to Vix. I couldn't see much except for bright pink fur and a forked tail, but I doubted  _ another  _ Espeon was wandering around this dungeon.

Vix shot around the corner, running as fast as she could towards Eve. I followed behind her at a more moderate pace. Eve must have heard us as she turned around just in time to catch Vix as she almost bowled Eve over in a hug.

“Really,” I called out to the pair, “what makes you so special. I didn’t get a hug.”

Vix shot me a dirty look, but she did let go of Eve. 

Eve didn’t even acknowledge that I had said anything. “What took you guys so long? I found the lost item. I was just waiting for you two to show up so we could leave together. Seriously what happened? I outran whoever was chasing me, I found the portal, and I’ve been waiting here ever since. “That might be because nobody was chasing you.” Vix commented examining the blue and silver scabbard lying on the ground at Eve’s feet.

“Yeah,” I added feeling a bit annoyed, “Vix was chased by the Greninja and the Tyranitar. I was attacked by the stupid Umbreon. Why didn't they go after you?”

Eve just shrugged, but for a split second a worried expression crossed her face.

“Alright,” I said calculating quickly, “we should get out before those Hatred members figure out where we are. Vix do you want to take the scabbard?” She nodded happily and picked it up. She slung it over her back where two of her tails immediately curled around it.

“Okay on the count of three we warp back to HQ,” I prompted putting my paw to my badge. “One, two three…” I lunged as quickly as I could and batted Eve’s paw away from her badge. Vix had just enough time to look surprised before she vanished with a flash of bright light.

“What was that for?” Eve roared.

I was in a ready stance. The hair along my back stood on end as I growled. “The Hatred knew your name. Why?”

“Is this really the time-”

“Yes,” I snarled, “It’s time to talk Eve. How does that Umbreon know you!”

Once the surprise wore off, Eve became angry too. “What about you?! They wanted you! What crime did you commit against them?!”

We stared at each other ready to fight. Slowly our frustration and aggression faded, but we both still wanted answers.

Finally I caved and gave in first. “I honestly don't know why they are after me. That's the truth,” I snapped as Eve raised an eyebrow at me. “Look I have no idea what that Umbreon-”

“Shane,” Eve said. It was almost an automatic reaction. She immediately flinched like she hadn't meant to let it slip, but the damage was done. 

“You know his name!” I said incredulously. “How could you know his…?” 

And then I remembered something the Umbreon had told me. _“Didn't she tell you? Why I was her-”_

“Eve,” I said trying to contain the rage in my voice, “was that Umbreon your partner?”

She didn't answer, but she didn't need to. It was written across her face. 

My inner Fire boiled extremely close to the surface, and I had to concentrate or else it would have exploded out of me. “That thing, that monster is your ex-partner! So much for ‘he’s dead’. Why did you lie to me about this Eve?”

“I-i-it, it wasn’t any of your business.” Eve snapped, but we both knew that she was lying.

“Well, obviously it is my business. They want me dead apparently, and you couldn’t have said, ‘Hey Slink, my ex-partner is a part of the Hatred and really, really wants to kill you. Just thought you should know’?”

“We grew up together,” Eve snapped. “And he is my ex-partner. The thing that broke us up was the fact that he joined the Hatred!” She was silent for a moment. “Everyone always called me crazy for liking him. But I never cared about their opinions. I never cared that he was shiny.”

“Why would that matter?” I asked. I hadn’t forgotten my anger, but I was also enraptured by her story.

“My village was… a little… old fashioned. My parents had a legacy to uphold, and the rest of the town was just as uptight. Shinies were odd. They were different. There were times where I am almost certain that I was his only friend. We grew closer after that, and then we just became partners.”

“What happened?” I asked.

Eve looked offended for a moment, but then she went on the offensive. 

“Enough about me, what about you? What is your problem?” she snapped. “Why do they want you dead? What did you do to them? What did they do to you?” She narrowed her eyes as she glared at me.

To be fair I should have seen it coming. Her gem flashed pink, and her hair was suddenly ruffled as though she was caught in a strong wind. I tried to block it, but as I tried to summon my Psychic energy, the heat from my angry Fire kept it from forming.

It was too late. I felt Eve’s mental probe burrow into my mind. My body reeled back as my brain was invaded, but that didn't stop Eve. It only took her a few moments for her to find the box in the back of my mind. Sometimes she was far too clever for her own good. She regarded it for moment, then, despite my desperate struggle to stop her, she shattered the lock holding it closed. 

The sudden explosion of memories, images, smells, sensations, emotions forced Eve from my mind as I collapsed. The sudden onslaught of pain and grief that I had been suppressing for so long hit me harder than even a Giga Impact could. Eve on the other hand gasped like a fish out of water. She had gotten a pretty good look in my head. She knew.

“They...they…” she tried to speak, but with the horror etched on her face I knew she wouldn't be able to.

“That’s right. That is why I hate them. They killed my family, right in front of me.”

“Really Fennekin, don’t be so dramatic.” I flinched at the voice, my paw going to my badge. Eve cried out and vanished in a flash of blue and black fur. Shane landed just to my right, his jaws fastened around Eve’s throat. 

“One wrong move Fennekin and I swear…” his voice was muffled, but still perfectly understandable. 

“Shane what are you doing? This isn’t-”

Shane shook his head savagely whipping Eve’s head around. “The Fennekin will be the only one talking.You shut up.”

“What do you want?” I growled keeping completely still. 

Shane smirked around Eve. “Simple. Take off your badge, put it in your bag, and throw it at my feet.”

My brain felt like it had frozen, every nerve ending locking up at once. I needed a plan, and I needed it now. 

“And no sudden moves.” Shane amended. That gave me an idea. He had to let me touch my badge. 

“Okay, okay. I am going to take off my badge  _ on the count of three. _ ” My eyes flicked towards Eve. She blinked in response. “One,” I slowly raised a paw, drawing Shane’s attention to it. “Two,” Eve’s paws twitched before her tail began to snake up her body. “Three,” Eve lunged with her tail tagging her badge. She vanished in a flash.

“You,” Shane swore as he lunged at me, but I already had my paw on my badge. It exploded into a blinding blue-white light. When it faded I was sitting in a large stone room. Eve and I were on top of a circular raised platform in the middle of the largely empty room.The platform we were on pulsed softly. “Breathing” was the best word I could think of to describe it as the platform beneath my feet shifted from black to a bright blue-white light and back again. It looked a lot like the material within our badges. Instead of a door, there was a large stone archway leading to the corridor outside. Hanging above the door was a smaller version of the sign outside of HQ; a winged badge with a large letter “E” in the middle. Eve lay nearby with her forepaws at her throat. She wasn’t hurt, but she was scared.

I rushed over to her. “Are you okay?” I asked. 

Eve glanced up at me sheepishly. “Yes,” she grumbled. 

I shook my head. “I’m sorry. You were right, we should have had that conversation later.” 

“You think?” Eve snapped.

I couldn’t help what came out of my mouth. Eve had officially pushed me to the edge of my rope. “Nice partner you have there. You should be so proud that he is willing to risk your life to get what he wants!”

“Ex-partner!” Eve shouted. She turned away from me. “I understand that he is terrible, at least now, but he wasn’t always. I know that he would never hurt me!”

“Well he has a funny way of showing it.” I grumbled to myself. I took a deep breath. This was ridiculous. There was no reason to keep arguing. “Eve, I’m sorry.”

“What?” She turned around to face me.

“I said that I am sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten as mad as I did, and we should have left the Dungeon when you said.” I paused. “But, Eve you have to be honest with me.”

“Slink, I didn’t-”

“- I’m not blaming you. Obviously there were things that we both wanted to keep secret. But both of our secrets could have gotten me and Vix killed today.” Eve and I met eyes. “Let’s start over okay, no secrets that could endanger each other.”

“Okay,” Eve nodded with a half smile. “I’m sorry too.”

We were both silent for a moment. In the back of my head I was vaguely aware of voices in the hallway. “We have to go and look for them! If you won’t let me, I’ll go myself!” The voice was undeniably Vix’s.

“Vix, please calm down. As I told you, someone just landed in the Warp Landing. It could very likely be them.”

“But we were attacked-” Vix tried to argue.

“Vix, please we can’t risk losing you too. Slink and Eve are adults. They can take care of themselves.”

“But they are all I have!” Vix screamed. “They are my family. I don’t know what I will do without them. I have to go. Slink told me that family sticks together.”

I couldn’t handle hearing it anymore. “Vix! Vix, we’re here. We are safe.”

“Slink?” The sound of thundering footsteps echoed down the hallways until a flash of orange fur shot into view. Vix skid a little on the hard stone floor her paw pads and claws scrabbling for purchase. Then she shot forward directly into my chest. 

“Slink, Eve.” Vix shook in my embrace. She didn’t want to leave, she buried her face in my chest and sat there like that for a while. The Kadabra from the front desk appeared from where Vix had. He had obviously been the one talking with her earlier.

Vix eventually grew still against me. I heard her steady her breathing before she opened up again. “There’s your hug,” Vix cooed sounding like her normal self again. “Now both of you listen to me. Don’t you ever do that to me again!”

“Sorry if I’m interrupting,” the Kadabra said sheepishly, “but I have to ask. That contract was the safest most basic one that we had, and you still ran into trouble. What happened?”

“Well we ran into the Hatred,” I began. I looked over at Eve, and although we didn’t form a Psychic link I knew that we were both thinking the same thing. We would tell them only as much as they needed to know. “We just narrowly escaped them. We sent Vix back when things got dangerous.”

Vix gave both of us a funny look, but she didn’t say anything. The Kadabra on the other hand had questions. “But none of you are Shiny. Why would they come after you?”

“Because…” I faltered. I didn’t have an explanation for that.

“They didn’t come after us. They had attacked a nearby village earlier today. We just got in their way.” Eve lied like a champ, although there was an ounce of truth to everything she said.

“Okay then.” I wasn’t sure whether the Kadabra was convinced or not, but he wasn’t about to ask. He handed me a sack that clinked as it moved. “Your payment. I’ll make sure that little Honedge gets its scabbard back.” 

He left the room, leaving the three of us together.


	5. The Library

It was growing late as we left Society HQ, and the most important thing on everyone's mind was food. Honestly, I wasn't in any mood to cook and neither were Eve or Vix. Eventually, even Eve conceded that we would have to go out to eat.

Thankfully, the Honedge we had helped out was the son of a very wealthy Aegislash who wasn't frugal when it came to rewarding people. My eyes had nearly bugged out of my head as the Kedabra tallied our reward.

"1000P for our first job?" I asked incredulously.

"With what we went through today," Eve whispered to me, "I expected at least 2000P. She grinned, and I couldn't help but laugh.

The sun was setting as we passed our apartment building heading into the main area of the town. "Okay," I said cheerily looking back at my tired team, "where are we eating tonight?"

"I don't know," Vix whined, "I'm just hungry."

Eve grimaced, "I'm not sure either. I haven't been here in awhile, so I don't even know what restaurants are around."

"Fine," I said setting off down the street, "I guess it's my choice."

We passed several restaurants, but none of them were going to work. There was a simple dive bar (honestly more a club than a bar at this point. Not exactly a place where we wanted to take a nine-year-old) and a fancy, fine-dining eatery run by a stuck up Furfrou (not to be snobby, but we didn't really want to spend all our money on one meal. Plus we were so dusty and grimy from the day's events that I doubt they would have let us in anyway).

Finally, I led the team into a small diner. A neon sign above the door proclaimed that it was called "Sparky's". We plopped down at a table and an obviously overworked Hitmonchan slapped a few menus on our table before nearly running back into the kitchen.

I looked at Eve who shrugged before picking up a menu. Vix and I followed suit, but I had to raise an eyebrow. "Vix, you know how to read?"

She gave me a dirty look. " _Yes,_ I know how to read."

I grimaced apologetically. "Sorry, that came out wrong. I meant how do you know how to read?"

"How do _you_ know how to read?" Vix snapped.

"Er… I guess my parents taught me."

"And the same goes for me," Vix said disappearing behind her menu once again. About a minute later she reappeared. "Being able to read doesn't help when you don't know what things are. What's a hamburger?"

I had to laugh, but Eve was simply scowling at me. "Don't make fun of her." I raised an eyebrow. Soon her expression cracked and she burst out laughing as well.

We took turns explaining the different menu items. Vix seemed really excited about the concept of macaroni and cheese. The Hitmonchan came back soon after that and we ordered.

When our food came, Vix was starting to get a little desperate. As soon as the Hitmonchan placed the bowl in front of her, Vix buried her muzzle in it and noisily slurped up the pasta.

I shared another quick glance with Eve, but neither of us said anything. We were eating a bit more conservatively, so Vix finished before us. In fact, I offered her the other half of my hamburger and she wolfed that down too.

The Hitmonchan handed us our bill which Eve quickly snatched up. I glanced at it over her shoulder. It was only about 100P which honestly wasn't that bad. Eve quickly counted out the coins and left them on the table.

"Alright, to home and to bed." I said as we left the diner. Vix nodded. Now that we had eaten, the amount of crap we had gone through today finally hit us.

The apartment building seemed farther away now that we were full and happy. I was ready to collapse once we crossed the threshold. Vix tried to escape into her room, but Eve caught her first.

"I think you need to go take a bath, Vix." I looked at her and couldn't help but smile. Vix still had cheese sauce coating her muzzle, almost up between her eyebrows.

"Really," Vix protested weakly, "I hate baths. You're as bad as my mom was!" She hung her head, slowly heading towards the bathroom. Before anyone could react she sprung up and made a mad dash for her room.

Beside me Eve stiffened and Vix was suddenly lifted into the air. A nimbus of pink energy glowed around her.

"Bath time," Eve chirped happily as she carried a struggling Vix into the bathroom.

I chuckled and settled on the couch turning on the TV. There was no way I was going to be able to go to bed while Eve and Vix were in the bathroom.

The news popped up as soon as the TV turned on, and Meowth was giving a special report. "...Yes we are receiving reports that the Pokémon terrorist group known as the Hatred has been spotted West of the Fire Continent's Spine mountains."

I breathed a sigh of relief. The Hatred had left, so we didn't have to worry about going into any Dungeons. Of course Meowth wasn't done yet.

"Earlier today they raided a mountain village and we are now receiving reports that they then attacked several members of the Expedition Society within the Deep Forest Mystery Dungeon. Sources agree that none of the Society members were shiny. One, an Espeon, had reportedly aided Shane Umbreon, a known and outspoken member of Team Hatred, in escaping the law in their home village.

"Another member, a Fennekin, seems innocent and unconnected to the Hatred, but investigators seem to have found a connection. As many of you know, earlier this week Team Hatred attacked Helopian Town where they massacred a family... of Delphoxes."

Meowth paused for dramatic effect as my blood ran cold. How had they figured all of this out? I hoped that Eve hadn't heard about this. Both of our biggest secrets were now public knowledge.

"Is this seemingly innocent Society Team as oblivious as they appear? To find out we asked Kegan, the director of the Expedition Society here on the Fire Continent."

The video cut to a shot of the Kedabra that had helped us at the Society. "All three of them are really just kids. They didn't tell me much about what had happened in that dungeon, but all evidence pointed to the fact that they had been attacked by Team Hatred. Anyone going through this ordeal would be traumatized, so I didn't press the matter. The most important thing is that none of them are part of Team Hatred."

Meowth reappeared. "Are these kids a part of Team Hatred? Do they know more than they let on? All we know is that we here at channel nineteen news will be keeping a close eye on Team Mindfire in the future."

I turned off the TV in disgust. I would tell Eve and Vix, but it could certainly wait until tomorrow.

They came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. Vix's fur was still matted down, and her long silky tails looked like a tangled mess, but she didn't have cheese sauce everywhere anymore. Eve was a different story. Her short fur was completely soaked. It hung off her like ragged curtains and dripped water onto the floor. Despite how wet she was, she looked proud of herself.

"Goodnight Vix," I said ruffling the long tuft of hair between her ears. It flattened over her eyes and she huffed. As soon as I removed my paw, she scrambled into her bedroom and quickly slammed the door.

Eve ducked into our room and I followed closely behind her. "Aren't you going to dry off," I asked. She rolled her eyes at me as the gem on her forehead began to glow. A sound like fabric flapping in the wind filled the room before a towel slapped me upside the head as it rushed towards Eve. Instead of rubbing it on herself to dry off, she instead spread the towel on the floor and stepped onto it.

Her gem glowed again and a purple cloud of energy appeared by her tail. Eve squeezed her eyes shut in concentration before forming the energy into a ring. She clamped the ring on one of her tail tips and began dragging it up her body, wringing the water from her fur and letting it drip onto the towel.

Eventually she was almost completely dry, and the towel was the one that was dripping wet. Eve hopped on the bed before commanding the towel to jump up and hang itself on one of her bed posts to dry. "Night Slink," she said.

"Night Eve," I replied before climbing into bed and turning off the light.

* * *

The next morning Eve was, unsurprisingly, awake before me. I woke up about nine o'clock and found Eve in our little kitchenette making breakfast. She cracked a few eggs into a bowl with her mind and used her tail to whisk the mixture until the yolks and the whites bled together.

"Good morning Slink," she hummed happily. "Eggs?"

They didn't take long to cook and so we settled on opposite ends of the couch eating. Eve used her tail to operate the remote and turn on the TV as she ate. She channel surfed for a while between bites of food. I wasn't really paying attention.

By ten, Vix had finally padded quietly out of her room. The fur on her head was a literal rat's nest. It was tangled and matted down between her ears. She leapt up on the couch between us and curled up with her head propped up against my leg. She didn't seem like she was quite awake yet. I pushed my plate towards her offering her the rest of my eggs. She nodded vaguely but didn't move to eat them yet.

"Yesterday we reported on the recent activities of the Pokémon hate group known as Team Hatred." Meowth was on TV again doing the morning news. I tensed involuntarily. Surely he wouldn't repeat the story from last night. "They had raided a small mountain village in the Scale mountain range before attacking Team Mindfire-"

"Turn it off," I said glancing desperately at Eve. She looked puzzled, but thankfully she trusted me enough to turn off the TV.

"What was that about?" Eve asked grumpily.

"Yeah, they were talking about us!" Vix added.

I glanced at Eve and Vix before letting out a sigh. "I only tell you this because you both deserve to know, but Vix I can only tell you my part of it. Eve will have to tell you her's." I licked my lips and swallowed before continuing. "Vix remember what I told you about my mom? Well she isn't the only one dead. My entire family is, and those Pokémon from Team Hatred we saw yesterday… they were responsible." Vix gasped, seemingly at a loss for words. I met eyes with Eve. "I saw that story last night, and I don't know how but that Meowth figured everything out. My side and your side. Eve, our secrets are both all over the news. I'm sorry I didn't tell you last night, and that I didn't let you watch it, but I thought you should hear it from me."

Eve visibly blushed, the pink fur at her cheeks turning a bright red. "So the entire Fire Continent knows about me and Shane?"

"Whoa, what? You and who? Who is Shane?" Vix looked excitedly between Eve and me.

"You're up." I told Eve, "It's your story after all."

She glared at me before turning to Vix. "I ran away from my home village a few weeks ago, a year after… my former partner… an Umbreon."

Vix raised an eyebrow. "Okay, why is that a problem?"

"Well that Umbreon was named Shane."

"Again, what is the problem."

Eve rolled her eyes. "He was Shiny…"

It took a minute, but eventually Vix figured it out. Her eyes widened and she started moving her lips but nothing came out. "That Umbreon from yesterday… that was… Eve what did you see in him?"

At this point I had to get up and wander around for a minute trying to wrap my mind around _that_ response. Eve on the other hand burst out laughing, almost falling off the couch.

Once we recovered from _that_ it essentially became a lazy, relaxed day. Eve had moved past the news and had found a nice, family-friendly TV sitcom about a Rescue Team. I had never been anywhere except the Fire Continent so I only really knew about the Expedition Society, but the Rescue Teams weren't that different. The team was made up of the main pair of a Dewatt and a Pignite, who had to get along despite their personalities being exact opposites. The writing was good, and it was definitely funny, but you could tell that it was clearly staged.

Around two that afternoon I began to get a bit antsy. I got up and had paced around for a bit, but it wasn't working. A single issue in the back of my brain kept nagging at me. Sure I had joined the Expedition Society, but I wasn't any nearer to finding the Dreamstone. I had been busy before, but here I was on my first day off just watching TV.

"I want to go to HQ for a bit and do some research," I announced during a commercial break, "does anyone want to come with me?"

Eve shook her head. Vix regarded me for a second before standing, stretching, and hopping off of the couch. "I'll go," she said with a shrug, "I'm always up to go exploring."

"Okay," I said without much enthusiasm. Honestly, I had hoped that Eve would have gone with me. She knew about my search for the Dreamstone. On the other hand, Vix didn't know and unlike my past with the Hatred, I was hoping to keep that secret under wraps.

I remembered Vix's cries yesterday. "They are all I have." I didn't want to tell her that I was leaving once I found it.

"One sec, then we'll go." I ducked into the room and grabbed my bag off of the desk. I also pulled thirty P from Eve's bag and put it in mine. Who knows when that might come in handy.

I left the door unlocked behind us. Hopefully, Eve wouldn't lock us out or worse lock herself out. I made a mental note to find someone to make another copy of our key. Gregory the Gloom was sitting at his desk reading the paper. I normally wouldn't have noticed, but the largest picture on the front page was our team symbol. We ducked out the door before he noticed us.

Town was rather quiet that afternoon. The sidewalks were nearly empty, except for the occasional Rattata that scurried across our path.

The emptiness was probably why I noticed the sound of running footsteps so quickly. I turned around to find Eve sprinting as fast as she could towards us with her bag slung over her shoulder. "I changed my mind," she called to us.

We waited a few moments for her to catch up. "Thanks," she panted. "I wanted to see the library at HQ, check out a few books. I hear it's almost legendary."

"Come on!" Vix whined darting off down the street.

"I also realized that you might want a little help looking for the Dreamstone. Sorry, I forgot about that." She glanced toward where Vix's six long tails waved as she ran down the street. "I don't think we should involve her in this."

I nodded in confirmation. "I wasn't really planning on telling her unless we have to."

Society HQ was nearly deserted when we got there. But then again what else is new? Kegan the Kedabra was behind his desk as usual reading the paper. "Excuse me," I called up to him. He folded his newspaper carefully before placing it on the desk and facing us.

"Can you believe what Meowth is saying?" he asked. Obviously he had seen the news report and was probably reading the paper with the article on us.

I wasn't exactly sure how to respond. I was half tempted to play dumb, but to be fair this guy had stuck his neck out for us. "I mean, what he is saying is true."

The Kedabra scoffed and rolled his eyes. "That's what makes him so powerful and so dangerous. He tells the truth sure, but he spins it to make it look bad. That interview from the news last night, he doctored the footage. I also mentioned that we had run thorough background checks on you before you joined. I found your Hatred connection, and Eve's, but both of them showed me that you would never join the Hatred."

"Er… thank you, sir." I said glancing at Eve.

Kegan seemed to calm down. "So what are you three needing today?"

"We would like to do a little research," Eve said, "where is the library?"

Kegan nodded. "Of course, right this way."

I never got a chance to get too far into HQ. Really, I had only been in the lobby and in the room we had warped back to yesterday. I knew that the building was a short, squat, cylinder with an observatory dome on top, but I had no idea what actually filled all of that space. Kegan led us straight back through the building. We passed a few dorm areas for solo new recruits, but nothing stuck out.

That is until we reached the library.

The hallway opened up through a grand arch to a beautiful room with a tall pointed ceiling. Windows, both stained glass and regular, lined the walls filling the room with natural light. We stood on a grand balcony lined with shelves on the third level of this massive room. Another, much larger balcony below us strained to hold the hundreds of bookshelves lined up upon it. On the ground floor, in the center of everything, there was a tall, solid, wooden desk surrounding a brilliant blue globe that I knew had to be the Pokémon Nexus.

"I believe you will be able to find what you are looking for here. If you need any help, just ask Dimitri," Kegan said gesturing to the desk. "Good luck."

"Dimitri?" Eve asked as we walked down to the main desk. I could only shrug.

Up close, the Pokémon nexus was almost blinding. It was essentially a glowing blue map of the world, but it was a perfect representation. If we had been able to zoom in on the HQ building and look inside we would be able to see ourselves. Every Pokémon on the planet existed on this map. Unfortunately the system wasn't perfect. For example most of the oceans were covered in impenetrable cloud layers. Most of the land also had quite a few clouds covering it. Naturally the Water continent and the Fire continent were the only places largely devoid of clouds. The Pokémon nexus could only "see" where members of the Expedition Society had explored. Everywhere else was obscured in an impenetrable layer of fog.

I wondered briefly whether I would find the Dreamstone on that map or not. I had my doubts.

What was odd, however, was that somebody seemed to have planted a tree behind the desk. The tree was tall with thick grey bark, and it was also mostly dead.

"Who would plant such an ugly tree in here?" I asked Eve. There was a rustling and a snapping sound as said ugly tree began to turn. It scuttled in a circle on six stubby roots. Twin thick limbs bent downward as the Trevenant turned to regard us with a rage filled red eye.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I protested, backing away. Vix simply bolted, darting between the bookshelves to hide.

"Hey, I take it you're Dimitri?" The killer tree froze for a minute before turning to regard Eve. He blinked his purple eye at her. Wait, purple? The Trevenant nodded slowly. "Well, hello there Dimitri. We needed to use the library for some research. Can you help us?"

He seemed to shrug before he suddenly whipped around to glare at me with a blazing red eye. "Whoa, wait," I shouted, "I'm sorry. I didn't know that you were there. I thought that someone had actually planted a tree behind the desk, and that struck me as odd and out of place. I didn't mean to insult you."

Dimitri glared at me for a moment before he shut his eye. Bark creaked as he blinked and when he opened his eye again it was bright yellow. I could feel him projecting a general feeling of happiness. His expression didn't change, but he looked like he was attempting to communicate forgiveness.

"Well, now that you two have made up, can you help us?" Eve grinned. "Dimitri we are looking for a thing called the Dreamstone. Do you know where we can find information on it?"

Dimitri closed his eye again, and when he opened it it was a bright blue, almost white. It spun around in its socket almost sickeningly before Dimitri slammed his eye closed again. When his eye opened it was green. He exuded the feeling of frustration.

"No such luck, huh?" Eve glanced at me. "Any ideas?"

I shrugged. "Maybe we can just look. Maps, reports, newspapers. We might just run across it. Dimitri?" The large tree glanced at me. "Can you help us find some news reports and some books on mythical or legendary phenomena?"

Dimitri blinked and once again he had a bright blue eye. It rolled around for a minute before he blinked revealing a bright yellow iris.

"I take it you have good news then?" Eve asked happily. Dimitri nodded before he scuttled out from behind the desk. He hooked his arm in the universal "follow me" gesture.

He lead us back into the library to a row of tall metal filing cabinets. I opened the bottom drawer of the first one revealing stacks and stacks of newspapers with dates going back fifty or sixty years.

As soon as I opened the cabinet, Dimitri scuttled off. Just as quickly he came back and placed a stack of thick books at Eve's feet. "Thanks Dimitri," I said. Then something important occurred to me. "Hey, could you go find Vix for us?"

The walking tree nodded. His eye became the strange light blue once again and roved around in its socket. It hardened into the purple color again, and he hurried off into the stacks.

"He's an odd Golduck isn't he?" Eve asked once he was gone. I shrugged and turned to the newspapers while Eve opened a large brown book. Instead of immediately reading however, she watched me for a while.

"Can I help you?" I asked looking back.

"Why did you want the newspapers?"

I sighed. "I know it's kinda stupid, but my father knew about the Dreamstone. Therefore he, or someone else within his lifetime, had to have discovered it or found it or whatever. This thing, whatever it is, probably has the power to bring Pokémon back to life. If that happened in the last forty years, it had to have been in the news. You saw what lengths Meowth went to, to find our secrets. He would have found out about that."

Eve half-grimaced, half-grinned. "I guess that might work. Just don't get your hopes up." She turned back to her book while I turned to the newspapers.

I didn't scan every single article in every newspaper, in fact all I did was pull them out, one by one, read the headline, and put them back. Hopefully what I was looking for would be headline news.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Vix asked making me jump. Dimitri 's eye was yellow and he seemed to be laughing as he followed her.

"Um," Eve said glancing at me. Vix flopped down next to Eve and pulled open a book.

I had to say something. "We're looking for the Dreamstone."

"What's that?" Vix asked flipping through the pages of the book.

"It's...It's…" I couldn't tell her. "It's something that my father asked me to find. You don't have to help me if you don't want." I glanced pointedly at Eve. "You don't either?"

Eve glared at me. "I want to!"

Vix grinned. "I don't." She looked down at the book. "Who is this Arceus dude? Why is there this big book about him and Mew?"

I had to stick my head in the cabinet to stifle my laughter. I paged through a few more newspapers, but I didn't find anything about the Dreamstone. I skipped back a few weeks, and tried again. In a newspaper from nearly a month ago I found an article that caught my eye. It wasn't about the Dreamstone. It was about the Hatred.

_**The Hatred's New Strategy** _

_Last week, deep in the Scale Mountains of the Fire Continent the Hatred attacked the small village of Arceus Rock. They attacked, destroyed, and carried off a victim. The patterns of the Hatred are well known, but no less horrifying. Last night, however; they did something that has everyone confused and worried._

" _They came out of nowhere," the panicked mother of the victim told our reporter. "They prowled over the rooftops, burst down doors, and rounded us all up in the town square before the Temple. We tried to fight back, but then there came this roar. An Umbreon landed at the very top of the temple. He leapt down into the middle of everything, just a bright blue blur against the night and unleashed his Dark Void attack. I don't remember much else. I woke up the next morning and... and… my little boy was gone."_

_Fires were raging in the town when members of the Expedition Society rescue squad made it there. Thankfully they were able to contain most of the damage, but unfortunately they were unable to stop the Hatred, or rescue their hostage._

_But this is where the twist comes. The victim was twelve-year-old Tod Vulpix, a normal little kid from a small town. That's right, he wasn't shiny._

My heart nearly leapt from my chest. I dropped the paper. Another Vulpix? A non-shiny Vulpix somehow connected to the Hatred. I scrambled to pick up the paper.

_Team Hatred, a terrorist group, is notorious for ransacking villages and kidnapping only the young shiny Pokémon. This recent kidnapping raises some extreme concerns. Why have they suddenly changed to kidnapping non-shinies? Is it simply a random attack, or was this targeted?_

_Thankfully, just last night, this young Vulpix reunited with his mother. "I don't know why Tod was taken, I honestly don't care as long as he is home safe."_

_An un-shiny kidnapping by Team Hatred, only for the child to be returned a week later? Is this a developing pattern? Or was it simply a random attack. In our current climate of uncertainty this is worrying. We can only hope that the Hatred don't have plans to expand this current trend._

The article ended there. THAT WAS IT!? I had a bad feeling about it. But why? Why did the Hatred kidnap that Vulpix, why did they attack Vix? I needed to know.

"Guys," I said, trying to keep my voice calm. "I need to go look something up."

"Okay," Vix said, not really paying attention. "So Mew is his daughter? And he sent her to earth to help Pokémon?"

Eve narrowed her eyes at me. "Are you okay? Did you find something?" She was suspicious, and I didn't blame her.

I forced a smile. "Everything is fine." I ducked into the stacks. "Dimitri? Dimitri!" I hissed quietly. Where was he?

The shambling ghost-tree nearly ran me over. "Dimitri! Hey can you help me find a book about all of the kinds of Pokémon. Ya know, abilities, moves, lore?" Dimitri used his creepy light blue eye search before his eye turned purple again and he shambled off with me in hot pursuit.

He stopped on the second floor, suddenly shooting his arm out and snatching a light green book from the shelf. He handed it to me.

It was made from a soft green leather with _Bulbapedia_ stamped on the front in dark green ink. I pulled it open to the Article on Vulpix.

**Vulpix**

**Types:** Fire

**Avg. Weight:** 22 lbs

**Avg. Height:** 2'0"

**Egg Group:** Field

**Vulpix is a small fox-like Pokemon. This four-legged Pokemon has a short, red-brown coat covering most of its body except for its cream-furred underbelly and its darker brown socks. It has six curly tails that are a bright orange color similar to the long, curly tuft of fur between its pointed ears. Its large eyes are deep brown and pupil-less.**

**Vulpix have a high amount of Fire control due to having a flame within itself that will only go out upon their death. This ability allows them to create floating tongues of flame that are sometimes mistaken for ghosts. To avoid overheating, Vulpix will blow flames from its mouth and nose to vent the heat. Vulpix originated on the Grass Continent, and feral Vulpix are known to prefer Dungeons located within the plains.**

That was… helpful? This wasn't teling me anything. Why was the Hatred after a Vulpix? In desperation I opened to the page on Ninetales.

**Ninetales**

**Types:** Fire

**Avg. Height:** 3' 07"

**Avg. Weight:** 44 lbs

**Egg Group:** Field

**Ninetales is a graceful, fox-like, quadruped Pokemon. It's slender body is covered in silky, golden-white fur. Ninetales has nine thin tails, each tipped with darker orange fur. Long fur tops its head, forming a tall crest, and around its throat, creating a thick mane.**

**Ninetales has blood-red eyes that it uses to deploy its limited Psychic powers. While they are normally calm, feral Ninetales are known to be very vengeful. Most of a Ninetales' powers are concentrated in their tails, each imparting a different power** ***** **on the Ninetales or those around them. Despite its Typing, Ninetales does have the ability to swim; however, it will only do so in an emergency. Ninetales originally came from the Grass Continent. Feral Ninetales are known to prefer Dungeons that reside within grasslands.**

I scanned down the page for any other clue and stumbled upon the footnote.

**Power** ***** **: These powers seem to vary between each Ninetales. The common rumor about curses only seems to apply to one tail, marked with a red ring of fur at the tip, that carries a curse of reduced luck. Other powers have been recorded, but they appear sporadically at best and have no identifiable markings. Note, this only applies to Ninetales. Before they evolve Vulpix has no other mystical abilities. Those powers only exist once they evolve.**

**(One exception does exist, but it is extremely rare. Occasionally a Vulpix, and only a Vulpix, may have the Navigation ability that allows them to see the complete layout of a Mystery Dungeon, including traps, portals, feral Pokémon, obstacles, and other dangers. Some more powerful Pokémon can use this ability to manipulate a Mystery Dungeon. They can create paths where none exist, can force paths to close, and can (although at a high energy cost) hold off the nightly shifting of a dungeon. This occurs only in 0.1% of all Vulpix, and is recognized by a thin black ring at the base of a tail. This ability will be lost if/when the Vulpix evolves into a Ninetales.)**

I had to force myself to take a deep breath, and I slowly let it out through my nose. I was deaf to the world for a moment as I tried to slow the heartbeat pounding in my ears. I put the book down leaving it on the floor. I had to force myself not to sprint back to where Eve and Vix were.

It was fine, I tried to tell myself, the Hatred isn't here. Besides we had at least twelve hours before we would probably leave town and the Hatred would have even a remote chance of even coming into contact with us. There was no way they would set foot in Festive town with the Expedition Society protecting it.

I passed Dimitri on my way, and I stopped just long enough to ask for his help. "Please, can you get Kegan down here? I need to talk to him about Vix." The hulking tree nodded, before scuttling off through the library.

"Hey Slink," Eve called happily. "Well, I finally got Vix caught up on Arceus and Mew. That was long and awkward."

I laughed half-heartedly. I glanced at Vix and there it was, on her second tail, a thin band of black fur right near the base. My stomach jerked as my blood ran cold. I was right. Vix was in trouble.

"Eve, I need to talk to you."

"Okay," she said rolling her eyes at me.

"No, I need to speak to you. Alone."

Eve immediately sobered up. She got up and I lead her over into the stacks. "What's going on? Did you find the Dreamstone? Do you need to leave?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not about that. It's about Vix. Look the Hatred is after her."

"The Hatred is after all of us," Eve said.

"No, they are after me to kill me, they weren't really after you, but they want to kidnap Vix and make her a part of the Hatred."

"Why, she isn't shiny?" Eve glanced at Vix who was back to reading a book.

I groaned inwardly. How was I going to get Eve to understand everything I had found today. Should I tell her the whole chain of events that lead me to this conclusion? The string of kidnappings, the Ninetales' abilities, and Vix's unexplained affinity with Mystery Dungeons? Or should I just skip to the point. I regretted leaving the book behind. It certainly would have been useful right then.

"You have to trust me on this. I read something about Vulpix, and the abilities they can have. Vix has a specific marking, and that means she has a rare ability. I think the Hatred are searching for a Vulpix with that ability. She could be in danger."

Eve still looked uncertain. "Okay, what do we do about it?"

"What?"

"What are we going to do? To keep her safe? What is your plan for that?"

"I don't know, but we need to keep her safe. I sent Dimitri to find Kegan. He'll know what to do."

"What will Kegan do? The Hatred found us in a Dungeon in order to get to you. What can Kegan do that will stop them from getting to Vix?"

Eve fell silent, looking a bit guilty. I turned around, planning on going to find Dimitri and Kegan. Vix was standing there, her head cocked in confusion. "The Hatred is after me?"

I grimaced. This was not how I wanted her to find out.

"Slink, Vix, Eve?" Kegan had arrived. "Are you three okay? Dimitri said you needed my help."

"Over here." I called while moving over to Vix. "Yes, Vix they are after you. But we are going to keep you safe." I braced for her reaction. Would she be scared? Angry? I honestly should have known. This was Vix afterall. She simply shrugged, like I had told her that it was going to rain tomorrow.

Dimitri lead Kegan over to us. "What's going on?"

"Kegan, I was doing research... and I am fairly certain that… well I'm certain... that Vix is being hunted by the Hatred." I couldn't get my words out. I already felt uncomfortable talking to the Leader of the Expedition Society, and then I had to explain a line of evidence and inquiry that I couldn't even explain to Eve. Where was that damn book?

"Whoa, Slink, calm down. Explain what you found."

I took a few deep breaths. "I was looking through the newspapers, and I read about the Hatred kidnapping non-shiny Pokémon, a Vulpix. When we found Vix, her mother had been killed by the Hatred. I found that odd, so I started researching Vulpix and Ninetails. I found out that certain Vulpix have a power to perfectly navigate and occasionally manipulate dungeons. Vix has that power. I think Team Hatred is after her for this power."

Kegan and Eve looked stunned. Vix had a half grin fixed on her face. "This is awesome!" she said.

Eve glared at her while Kegan scratched at the back of his head. "This is troubling."

"Can you help us keep her safe?"

Kegan bit his lip. "I'm honestly not sure. We probably can't with you going off on missions all of the time."

"So?" Eve sounded a bit apprehensive.

"So I'm not sure if I can help unless," he grimaced, as though his next words tasted bitter, "you turn custody of Vix over to me and the Expedition Society as a whole. We'll board her here at Society HQ and keep an eye on her until the threat from the Hatred is averted."

"What?!" Vix exclaimed. "No way I'm staying here!"

"Slink you are technically her legal guardian because you are the oldest. If you request that she stays here, then we will help protect her."

Eve and Vix both looked at me. Eve accusingly and Vix hopefully. What was I going to do? I went with my gut. "Please," I said to Kegan, "keep Vix safe."

"What? No." Vix said looking between me and Kegan. "Don't I get a say in this? I don't want to stay here."

"Vix," Kegan tried to console, "this is the only way to guarantee that you stay safe. You will have full run of HQ, and Slink and Eve can visit all the time. It just isn't safe for you to leave town anymore."

" I was perfectly safe outside of town for years!" Vix snapped angrily. "Maybe I should go back." She tried to run off but I reached out and stopped her.

"Vix, please I'm sorry but-"

"Leave me alone!" Vix shouted breaking away. "I hate you!" She ran off into the depths of the library and vanished.

Everyone was silent for a minute. Kegan looked a bit awkward. "I think you need a chance to talk this over. I won't do anything tonight." He turned to go. "Dimitri and I will make sure she gets home okay."

He left me alone with Eve. She looked like she wanted to kill me. "What was that?" Her voice was deathly silent and boiling over with anger.

"I just wanted to keep her safe." I tried to keep my voice steady. I had done the right thing. But then, why did I feel so horrible?

Eve growled at me. "We could have kept her safe. What you said about family, what happened to that? Considering the state we found her in, you of all people would have thought through that more carefully. You basically abandoned her."

"I didn't have a choice!" I protested.

"Why not? We can protect her!"

I snapped, all of the worry and panic and fear I had been holding in all shot out of me at the same time. "Because that worked out so well for me last time the Hatred threatened the people who are important to me. I already lost one family to Team Hatred, I'm not about to lose another!"

Eve was speechless for a few moments. Then she shook her head. "Well good job Slink, you may have just lost this one." She left me there, on the bottom floor of the library. Alone once again.


	6. Self Destruct

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Six chapters down, 14 to go. And by the time we reach the end, I will certainly have a new chapter out. Enjoy the quick uploads everyone, because once we catch up it will be much slower going. Oh well.
> 
> On another note, this is a bit of a long one. Sorry about that one. I considered splitting it in two, but I want to keep this version as close to the FFN one as possible for now. At least with chapter arrangement. There will be time for greater change later.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading. Enjoy.

I ended up not going home that night. I wasn’t sure if Vix or Eve even wanted to see me. I wasn’t sure if they still wanted me on the team anymore. I was lost and confused. I had done the right thing, hadn’t I? Vix was in trouble because of the Hatred. Kegan had been able to protect her, and despite what Eve thought, we weren’t.

Our first job had put us directly in the hands of Team Hatred. If I hadn’t sent Vix home before confronting Eve, they would have had her then and there. They would have had all three of us, and I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself. At least for as long as the Hatred let me live. I wasn’t sure what the penalty for crimes against the Hatred was, but based on what they had done to the rest of my family… it wasn’t anything less than death.

Kegan seemed to understand. He let me stay upstairs in the dorms reserved for those who wanted to join the expedition society, but didn’t have a team yet. Those new recruits were a social bunch. Most of them were younger than me, a few were much older. The young ones were seriously immature, it was no wonder why they hadn’t found a team yet. They stayed up late into the night talking, playing games, laughing. I didn’t join in.

I didn’t sleep that night. I didn’t know anything anymore. I didn’t know what the two most important people in my life thought of me. I tossed and turned all night, my thoughts moving a thousand miles an hour. I was trapped deep within my own head.

Either unfortunately or fortunately, the morning eventually came. As soon as the sun was up I left. It was killing me not to know. For better or worse, I had to know.

Mr. Gloom let me into the building, and the door to our apartment was unlocked. I took a deep breath and walked in, my stomach churning.

Eve was in the kitchen, her back to me. She was making breakfast: eggs, bacon, and pancakes using her Psychic powers to manipulate the utensils. She hummed while she cooked darting back and forth between each task. As I watched she stiffened, she knew she was being watched. Slowly, so slowly, she turned around.

“Oh, Slink. Good morning.”

“Er,” I mumbled taken aback, “Good morning. H-h-how are you?” I cringed. What was I talking about?

“I’m good.” She turned back to cooking. “Vix isn't doing as well. I’m fairly certain I heard her crying last night.”

My stomach fell out. I had done that. “For what it's worth, I talked with Kegan this morning. We will keep custody of Vix.” Eve was silent. “Actually, _you_ will keep custody of Vix.”

Eve froze, the pancake she was levitating crashed onto the the stove with a splat. “What?”

I shook my head feeling a prickle in my throat and burning behind my eyes. “I said that I made you sole legal guardian of Vix. I…don't trust myself to do it anymore.”

Hot tears ran down my cheeks as Eve slowly turned around. “Slink. Thank you.” Then she did something unexpected. She ran and hugged me.

“I know what I did, what I said…” I choked back a sob, “I don't want to force Vix into protection if it will make her miserable!”

Eve laughed, although I could tell that she was crying too. “You couldn't have realized that last night dumbass!? But I’m glad you realize what you did wrong.”

“I don't ever want to make the same mistake again. That is why I gave the job to you.”

“And that is exactly why you should take the job back. We can have joint custody. That way I can block you when you make stupid choices.” She backed up and smiled at me. At least she had forgiven me.

She took a closer look at me and winced. “Slink you look awful. Did you sleep at all last night?”

I knew I looked a little haggard, but I didn't think that it was that bad. “No,” I admitted softly.

“Go lay down for a while. Breakfast won't be ready for about an hour. I got us a job for today, but we won't have to leave until this afternoon. Get some rest.”

She practically forced me into our room and slammed the door behind me. I’ll be honest, my bed had never looked more inviting. My head had barely touched the pillow before I drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

I had a dream.

I was standing on a clifftop, a narrow bluff by a raging sea. Waves crashed thunderously against the white cliff face beneath me sending salty spray hundreds of feet in the air.

At the end of the cliff stood a temple, at least the ruins of one. Overgrown, red-stone pillars and crumbling walls were all that remained of what was probably once a grandiose building.

I felt myself walking forward. Through the overgrown courtyard, through the weatherbeaten archway. Something inside just kept pulling me forward. Ancient hieroglyphs were etched into the walls, but my dream self didn't seem to pay them any mind. He was on a mission.

I eventually reached the center of the temple. This room was the most intact from what I had seen. It was perfectly round with a domed ceiling. The walls were covered in more etchings, as was the floor. The ceiling was perfectly smooth except the round skylight directly in the center. The floor sloped gradually downward like a bowl.

In the exact center of the room, directly underneath the skylight there was a perfect circle of what looked like obsidian. But at the same time, it didn't. The best way I could describe it would be like a pool of oil, the way that colors danced across it, swirling and mixing in thousands of different forms, and yet that still wasn't it.

For one it was solid, and for another I could also see myself in it. It was reflective. As the colors rippled across my face though, the reflection would distort. The world seemed to blur for a moment before everything snapped back together. Now the surface seemed to swirl hypnotically and the reflection inside, well it couldn't be true. It showed me as a Delphox!

I glanced behind me? Was it reflecting someone else? No. And when I looked back, it had changed again. Now the color moved across it in waves, and it wasn't a reflection anymore. It showed me reunited with my family. I blinked. In the zig-zag color I could see me, Vix, and Eve running through Dungeons together.

I stumbled back, tearing my eyes away. It was disorienting. I backed away, and suddenly someone else was there. It was the Umbreon, Shane, and yet it wasn't. It was like somebody had dyed a Muk black and then poured him over an Umbreon. The overall shape was there, and his blue rings were there, but he seemed melty. He dripped thick black goo.

As I watched, he placed four objects on the ground. My dream self wouldn't move to see them. The light in the room suddenly became almost blinding. The sun must be directly overhead I realized suddenly. The four objects began to glow as well. As the glow grew they began to lift off of the ground and slowly orbit around the room. In the back of my head, just at the edge of my hearing I could sense a high hum.

The glow became brighter, almost blinding as the four objects, or should I say pieces, suddenly snapped together. The humming I had been hearing became audible, and more discordant and unsettling. I heard the Umbreon say something, but I couldn't discern his words. The sunlight streaming through the roof suddenly turned red, and with that the glowing object exploded.

I was awake in an instant, panting. I wasn’t sure weather the dream had forced me awake or if it was Eve’s gentle knocking on the door.

“Slink, breakfast is ready!”

“Uh,” I gasped trying to hide my panting, my shock. “Sure,” I choked, “be out in a minute.”

I tried to calm down, but the dream was burned into my mind. What was that, what had I seen? I couldn’t shake the feeling of looking into… whatever material that had been. I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, fixed a grin onto my face, and opened the door, where I immediately ran into Vix who was coming out of the bathroom.

“Hey watch it-” she said before she registered who she was talking too. She closed her eyes, took a shuddering breath and then turned her nose in the air and marched past me.

“So when’d Slink get back,” she asked Eve completely ignoring me.

“Er, this morning… about an hour ago.” Eve rolled her eyes. I raised an eyebrow at her. She shrugged giving me a look that said “hey it’s your problem, don’t look at me”.

I sighed and sat down at the table. “So you said you had work for us today. What’s the plan?”

“Well,” Eve said, “I got us a job, and before you ask I checked. All reports say that the Hatred is somewhere north of here, and we are headed south. It’s in a small village in the foothills of the Scale Mountains. Only a day and a half journey.”

“Whoa, whoa whoa,” Vix said. “It's going to take us two days to get there?”

“Yes,” Eve said patiently, “but not really because there is a dungeon in the way. With your help Vix we can be in and out in ten minutes.”

Vix huffed and glared at me for a minute. “Oh, sorry, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to use my powers anymore.”

“Vix I said I was sorry, I’m not sure what else I can-”

“-Anyway when are we leaving?” Vix interrupted me.

“I was thinking that we could leave here by eleven,” Eve said as though nothing had happened. “We should probably go to the market before we go, and then if we leave town by noon we should be good.”

“Alright that gives us about an hour and a half. I’ll go pack up and make sure we got everything.” I glanced at Eve and Vix, “you could help me if you want.”

Vix didn’t answer. Instead she walked to the couch and flopped down in front of the TV. “Hey Eve, tell Slink I’m busy okay.”

I opened my mouth to retaliate, but Eve shook her head.

“You know it's going to be hard for her to forgive you. You can't expect it to happen in a day. Especially with what you did.”

“I said I was sorry,” I grumbled, “Fine. I’ll be in our room packing if you need me.”

Honestly I couldn't blame Vix, but it didn't stop me from trying. I had apologized and fixed my mistake. What else did the child want me to do?! She didn't have to forgive me, I just wanted her to speak to me. In the back of my mind a tiny voice made it even harder for me to get over it. _You may have fixed your mistake, but The Hatred still wants Vix. She is still in danger._

I huffed to myself, but I quickly lost myself as I began reorganizing my bag.

“Er, Slink,” I jumped, a brief bolt of adrenaline arcing through my bloodstream.

“Eve,” I panted.

“Oh, sorry,” she giggled, “I didn't mean to scare you.” Her voice suddenly became serious, “Can we talk for a minute.”

“Sure,” I said turning back to my bag. I knew Eve wouldn't care if I continued to get ready.

“Slink, I need your help!” Something in her tone made me freeze. Something wasn't right. “I… I uh-”

“Eve, it's fine, what do you need help with?”

“I know that it is going to take a few days to get where we need. My problem is that I have no clue how big the Dungeon in the way is.”

“Okay,” I said not quite sure where this was going.

“I don't know how long we'll be in there, and this job has a time limit… I guess what I’m asking is… Slink, is there any way to stay in a Dungeon overnight?”

“Really? That is what you were afraid to ask?”

“Yes,” she nodded, but I felt a small flicker in the back of my head, the same place where my psychic powers lay dormant. Somehow I knew that Eve was lying. “I just thought that it was going to be impossible”

“Eve, the Expedition Society found a solution to that problem ages ago. I’ll show you when we get to the market. Besides, I know Vix was snarky earlier, but I know she'll get us through that Dungeon with time to spare.”

Eve grinned. “I feel better Slink, thanks.”

An hour later we left the apartment, locked the door behind us and set off toward the market. I was the only one who had been here before, and even then it had been early. Now it was packed with dozens of Pokémon of all shapes and sizes creating barely contained chaos.

Thankfully the market was divided between food, homeware, and Mystery Dungeon Items. Dozens of tents and stands on either side of the street were filled with different looplets, ribbons, orbs, wands, and of course what I was looking for, discs.

The stand was run by a Kangaskhan who, despite her rambunctious child running around the back of the tent, was eager and willing to help. “See anything you like dears?” Without taking her eyes off of us she reached back and pulled the baby Kangaskhan away from the crates stacked behind the counter.

“What are these things?” Eve whispered to me examining the discs on the table. Each was perfectly round and about as thick as a coin. They were made of a silvery material like our badges, and stamped on either side were a variety of images, all glowing with a bright blue, electronic light.

Ignoring Eve for a moment, I scanned the table looking for what we wanted, but I couldn't seem to find any. It didn't help that I couldn't remember what half of the symbols meant. “Er, do you have any small campsite discs? I don't remember which is which?”

The Kangaskhan laughed and pointed out a row of disks with a single triangle stamped into them. “Right here sweetie. How many would you want then?”

“Let's go with three small camps, a trap, a shop, and a hiding spot.”

“Sure dear. That will be…” she dumped the discs I had asked for in a small leather pouch while adding under her breath, “let's say 200P.”

Eve glanced at me, and I nodded. Quickly she counted out the coins and slid them across the table to the Kangaskhan who unceremoniously tipped them into her pouch. “Here you go sweetie,” she said handing me the pouch, “you all be careful out there.”

“Thank you,” I called over my shoulder as we turned to go. Thankfully it was only about 12:30 so Eve wasn't too worried about time. With the Expedition gadget to guide her, Eve lead us out of town.

It amazed me how quickly cities manifested. We had only been walking for twenty minutes, and already the bustling city had been reduced to small isolated farmhouses that were extremely sparse at some points. At some points we walked for several minutes before seeing another house. And of course as we traveled farther down the road we finally reached the edge of civilization.

The road was well maintained, but the hills and plains we passed by were wilder, rougher than the immaculate farm lands we had been passing. Despite all logic I felt vulnerable out here. The Hatred could be literally anywhere. They could attack us now and nobody would notice. The thought made me shiver.

It was extremely hot that day. Thankfully Eve had planned ahead and grabbed a couple of canteens. As we marched along we took frequent breaks, stopping to drink and to have a few snacks. For some reason -- I couldn’t imagine why -- Vix was being a bit difficult. She seemed to call for a break every five minutes, and would complain loudly until we complied. After a couple hours of this even Eve was fed up and annoyed.

When we weren’t even to the Dungeon by four, Eve took Vix a little ways off for what I assumed was a talking to. I also assumed that my name came up quite a few times. When they came back Vix looked even grumpier than usual, but Eve seemed much calmer?

“No more breaks until we are inside the Dungeon!” She eyed both of us (like I was the problem) and continued to lead on.

Unfortunately it was five by the time we got to the Dungeon entrance marked by two triangular rocks that extended from the ground. “Vix do your thing,” Eve said, “how many floors are there?”

Vix took two steps into the Mystery Dungeon and closed her eyes, concentrating. “There are fifteen floors here.”

“Uncanny,” I whispered to Eve. She nodded, a bit uneasy.

“So if we hustle we should be able to-”

“Uh, no,” Vix interrupted looking back into the Dungeon. “Just looking at the first floor I can tell you that it is gonna take a while for us to get through. When’s sunset?”

“About seven according to the Expedition Gadget,” I reported.

“Yeah, it will definitely take us at least twenty minutes for us to get through just this floor.”

“So what?” Eve said. “Should we start, or should we just make camp here tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Vix shrugged, “I’m not sure how long it will take us. Perhaps after we get past this floor we might breeze through in no time.”

“Even if we don’t make it, we do have the equipment to spend the night in there. I say we make some headway tonight and get started early tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Eve said stepping into the Dungeon as well. “Let’s go.”

Sure enough it took exactly twenty minutes for Vix to lead us to the portal, I timed it. Again all I could do was gaze at her in amazement. As we began the second floor all I could do was think about the Hatred. Vix could lead someone through a Dungeon like this perfectly on their first go, saving so much time. Currently Expedition Society experts who were studying the Hatred’s movements estimated that it took them an average of two days to move from village to village. If there was an unavoidable Mystery Dungeon in their way, a rule of thumb was to double that time. I tried to imagine a world where these evil creatures could move anywhere in about two days. The only reason why there were any Shinies left outside of the Hatred was because of warning and evacuation systems that took advantage of this travel delay.

The second floor proved shorter than the first, and on the third floor we miraculously landed only feet from the next portal.

But unfortunately we were only halfway across the fourth floor when an alarm we had set into the Expedition gadget went off. “Ten minutes until the sun sets,” Eve informed me with a nod.

I opened my bag and pulled out the small leather pouch and fished around until I found a disc with a triangle stamped into its surface. “Let’s try this.”

Eve and Vix watched fascinated as I worked the disc into a small slot in the top of my badge. Once it was inside the whole thing seemed to glow a little brighter. I reached a paw up to my badge, but then I hesitated.

“Er, I’m not sure how far this will extend. I’d feel a bit safer if you two stood next to me.” Eve complied quickly. Vix rolled her eyes and huffed, but she eventually joined us.

Quickly, but making sure to make each press distinct, I pushed my badge four times. On the fourth time there was a satisfying click. This time my badge did grow brighter, brighter, and brighter until it looked like a miniature star was sitting on my chest.

The light projected onto the ground in a small circle at my feet, but as the glow grew brighter the circle got bigger. Eve and Vix both shivered as the ring of light on the ground passed over them.

We were standing just on the edge of a corridor, and so as the ring of light grew bigger the strangest thing of this whole process happened. As the light met the wall, the wall seemed to crumble away, the ring and the rapidly forming dome of light around us seemed to be pushing the walls outward in order to create a perfect circle of perfectly flat terrain.

Finally when the dome was at least thirty feet across it stopped growing. There was a bright flash of blue light as the dome solidified, then both it and the light around my badge faded to only a dull glow.

I slowly walked the circumference of the dome like my father had taught me, checking to make sure that there were no openings or cracks. Once I was done I turned toward where the camp had appeared and instantly noticed that there was something wrong.

“Oh, good going Slink,” Vix said with as much sarcasm and sass that her tiny frame could hold. The campsite was actually quite lovely, a cheerily crackling campfire stood in between some sturdy, beautifully constructed, but somewhat small tents.

The issue was that there were only two of them. “I know I ordered small camp discs right?”

“Uh, sure,” Eve said sympathetically, “unfortunately these do look small.”

“No, no I remember camping with my dad and my sister as a kid, and we used small camp discs.” I shook my head. “I guess it has been a while, perhaps they changed them.”

I glanced at Eve and Vix. “Anywho, you two can take these and I’ll go over there and set up another campsite before…”

Everything suddenly darkened, and it took me a minute to realize that it was because the sun had finally sunk below the horizon. Almost as quickly, there was the rushing sound as the wind began to pick up. The tall grass flattened out around us, but in our bubble the blades of grass didn't even twitch. The barrier seemed to brighten for a minute as the wind struck it, but otherwise everything seemed normal.

My favorite part came last in this whole process. Thick, viscous, silver fog began to flow in from seemingly every direction. The fog swirled, twisted and rolled over itself as it was pushed by the wind. It looked like storm clouds had begun to gather around our camp. As the fog hit our little barrier it flattened as if it had hit a wall, rolling upwards as more and more clouds gathered. Soon the dome was completely encased in the fog except for a small circle directly at the top. Nobody was leaving this bubble until morning.

“Well, there goes that. So how do we want to split off now? Girls in one tent and-”

“Mine,” Vix called as her six bushy tails disappeared into the mouth of the right tent.

I stepped forward to confront Vix about this, but Eve held me back.

“Just let it go. We will be fine.”

“Easy for you to say,” I grumbled to myself. “So I guess we go, you in the tent and me out here by the fire?”

“No,” Eve said, “you can have the tent, I will be fine out here.”

“Eve, really I insist. You can have the tent.”

“No. If you insist, we can share it.”

“Eve,” I protested, “this isn't like the room back home. Seriously I’ll be fine. See you in the morning.”

“Come on Slink.” Eve whined playfully biting my ear and pulling me toward the tent. “I’ll feel bad if you're out here and besides it's not like we're gonna do anything other than sleep, right?”

Honestly I wasn't sure if she was joking. I let myself be dragged into the tent anyway. It was a tight fit even just standing up, I wasn't sure there was enough floor space for us to sleep comfortably.

We lay down back to back, and we had barely enough room to stretch out comfortably. I knew that one of my limbs was going to fall asleep at some point during the night. I couldn't wait! But eventually the combination of her warmth against my back and the rhythm of her steady breathing lulled me to sleep.

I’m not sure was woke me up the next morning, I just remember the return to consciousness. I didn't fully wake up, there was still a bit of grogginess to my thoughts and I didn't open my eyes. I was just too comfortable.

The pillows they had included with the tents were magical. They were slightly fuzzy covered in what felt like a thin down. They were also firmer than your average pillow, with an inherent squishiness to them that made them super comfortable. I nuzzled my face into it. Oh, and they smelled wonderful as well. A bit like oran berries, but with the tartness of cherri berries. Actually now that I thought about it that scent… was rather… familiar…

I opened my eyes, and temporarily forgot how to breathe. My head wasn't resting on a pillow, I was laying on Eve! In the middle of the night I must have rolled over or something, and now here I was spooning Eve.

I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it to be honest. I wasn't sure if it meant anything. All I knew was that I had to get up now.

I rolled to my feet, but I had forgotten briefly that we were in a tent. I bounced off of the roof of the tent and slammed back into the ground. I sat down and scooched as far away from her as I could in the small tent.

“What was that? What were you two doing?” I leapt about a foot in the air as Vix’s whisper filled the tent. Unfortunately this also made me lose my balance and I fell back into the canvas wall of the tent. This combined with my earlier jump was apparently too much for the tent poles and ropes keeping the tent up and it promptly collapsed.

I began clawing and kicking at the canvas that threatened to smother me. I rolled, I twisted trying to escape the grip of the fabric before it was promptly ripped away from me with all of the ceremony of a magician pulling away a tablecloth.

“Slink, there are better ways to wake me up in the morning. Tomorrow I’d prefer a ‘good morning’ if it's all the same to you.” Eve winked at me before going over to her bag and fishing out some breakfast.

“But he- you were-” Vix stammered still obviously trying to comprehend what she had seen.

“Vix, I need your help over here,” I blurted trying to stop her from talking.

“But-” she said.

“Now,” I commanded, and for some reason today she obeyed.

I took her to the opposite side of the bubble and then when we were out of earshot I tried to explain. “Yes we shared a tent last night but nothing happened. I must have rolled over in the night, and I woke up like that. Eve has no idea and we are not telling her.”

“But you were snuggled up together,” Vix insisted, “I mean do you like her? Do you love her?” Her voice was somewhere between a child's curiosity, and a teenage romantic. What was she hoping my answer would be?

“Look, I don't know right now. I’m going to need some time to think about it. Which is why we are not telling her!”

“Okay, okay,” Vix replied petulantly, sounding like her normal self, “but if you do decide that you like or love her, please tell her.”

Vix had no idea that I was only going to be a part of this team until I found the Dreamstone. She couldn't know that I was going to leave at some point, and therefore I couldn't tell Eve. Instead I said, “Sure Vix, if that happens, I will.”

“So how does this work?” Eve asked pacing back in fourth at the edge of the bubble. “Does it collapse at a certain time or…?”

“Once my badge crosses the line it will collapse, and everything in here will vanish.” I looked around. “Make sure you have everything before we leave.”

Once we were packed, I had Eve and Vix cross out of the dome and leave me inside. I carefully did a final once-over before I slowly backed out of the dome. As soon as I left, the dome that had been almost invisible all night flared bright blue and then collapsed inward and vanished with a slight pop.

“Okay, let's go!” Vix shouted excitedly turning to survey the Dungeon. She promptly collapsed.

“Vix,” Eve cried.

“I’m fine,” Vix said standing shakily, “I just… it was disorienting. A lot of information all at once.”

“Oh, sorry Vix,” I said, “the Dungeon shifted last night. Trying to read all of those changes must have been a lot to handle.”

“You’re telling me,” Vix grumbled. “I’m fine let's go.”

The floor we were on took a bit longer than anticipated to navigate. It took Vix a few minutes to get oriented so we took a few wrong turns.

“When I went into the bubble I had the old Dungeon map in my head. When I woke up I still had the old Dungeon, and then when I left the bubble I was hit by the new map and they overlapped with each other and I couldn't think for a minute.”

“Hmm, I hadn't thought of that,” I said thinking, “The part of the world under the bubble must have still been a part of yesterday's Dungeon.”

“No dip, Detective Pikachu,” Vix said rolling her eyes.

I was a bit confused. I thought that we had bonded over our secret from Eve. I thought she had gotten over my “betrayal”. Ugg. Females were weird.

From there it was rather smooth sailing, as soon as we made it to the next floor we breezed through the Dungeon.

On the thirteenth floor we had to weave around the floor for nearly an hour as we were being chased by a flock of disgruntled wild Pidgey, and on the fifteenth and final floor we had to go the long way around the floor as Eve refused to go by the Sviper’s nest that was next to the path.

We escaped the Dungeon about noon that day, and from there it was only a few hours from our destination. Surprisingly Eve called a break as soon as we were free of the Dungeon.

I flopped down by a fallen log near the path and pulled my canteen from my bag. It was nearly empty but I managed to scrounge up two large swallows of water. Eve sat down next to me.

“I thought you and Vix were getting better.” She said quietly.

“What?” I asked genuinely confused.

“You and Vix seemed to be really friendly this morning. I thought you had made up.”

“So had I,” I mumbled.

We started moving again, and about three hours and two breaks later we finally caught sight of the town nestled at the base of the mountains.

It was really just a small village as evidenced by the cozy cottages that lined the main street. There were a few restaurants, a hotel, a general store, all the essentials, but it didn't have the lively feeling of Festive Town or the city I grew up in.

“Let's get a hotel room for the night,” Eve said, “and then we can go get dinner. We will go do the job tomorrow.”

The room was a bit expensive, but it was rather large with two double beds and a small loveseat/sofa. Eve left her bag on one of the beds, and Vix would probably claim the other so I put my bag down on the sofa. Eve grabbed 100P from her bag, then we left for dinner.

We ended up at a small pizza place called _Jack of Diamonds._ The pizza was rather good; super thin crust with pepperoni is never bad. Of course this was the first time Vix tried pizza, and by the end she treated it like it was the second coming of Mew.

We walked up and down the Main Street, exploring for a while before we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night.

Eve automatically climbed onto the bed that she had claimed earlier, and Vix did a flying leap into the other, almost instantly curling up. It was only as I settled on the couch that Eve seemed to realize that I didn't have a bed.

“Slink, that's where you're sleeping?” Eve asked.

“Yeah,” I said. Honestly I had no problems with the arrangements.

“But-” Eve stopped for a moment like she was bracing herself to say something. “Look, it's not fair that you have to sleep on the couch. I’ll sleep there-”

“Eve, really it's fine.”

“No it's not! If you won't switch with me then we can share. It worked last night!”

Vix who had just been lying back enjoying our argument suddenly perked her head up. Her ears twitched with anticipation.

“Eve really, don't be guilty. It really is fine. If it makes you feel better you can sleep on the couch in the next hotel.”

Eve huffed, annoyed, but she let it go. “I guess if you're fine. Goodnight Slink.”

“Goodnight.”

I couldn't sleep. My thoughts were swirling through my head impossibly fast. How did I feel about Eve? What did her insistence on fairness mean? Did she know about last night? Vix had tossed and turned for a while, but from her steady breathing I knew that she was now asleep. Eve on the other had was curled up with her face to me. Her eyes were closed, and her normally bright gem had only a slight glow to it. She was out too.

I couldn't take it anymore. Slowly and quietly I got to my feet and leapt down with a soft thump. I froze for a moment and glanced at Vix and Eve. Neither moved. Neither made a sound. Perhaps I would pull out the Expedition Gadget and play with it for a while, but then I caught sight of Eve’s sleeping face in the moonlight.

Slowly I padded over to her and just watched her sleep for a moment. She took deep breaths in through her nose, and then slowly let it out through her mouth. Her eyelids and legs twitched occasionally and every once in awhile her gem would flare with light for a moment or two before fading.

What if I did love her? There was no way I could tell her. I was leaving as soon as I found the Dreamstone. Even if that took several years, I would still have to go, and it would kill me to have to break her heart.

That's when I realized it. I was in love with Eve. That's when I realized that she could never know. I had to tell her though. I had promised Vix. “I love you,” I whispered as loudly as I dared.

I heard a slight sound. The sharp intake of breath. I flinched and jerked my gaze up to where Vix was sitting up in bed staring at us. She had an impish grin on her face.

“Go to sleep,” I hissed at her. She shrugged and lay her head down, but her eyes were still open, watching me. “And not one word tomorrow, understand!”

* * *

The next morning, Eve got us up way earlier than we had expected. “Eve,” I protested as she turned on the lights, “the job will still be there later. Give us a break!”

Vix seemed to go feral for a moment as she just spat and hissed at the sudden light.

“Knock it off Vix, and no it might not be,” she chided. “I know I told you that this job is open to anyone, I didn't book it! Besides we have to go through a Dungeon today and that could take a long time. Please let’s go!”

“Sure,” I relented rolling to my feet and grabbing my bag. Then I realized something. “One second.” I took off my badge and examined it for a second. “Just in case,” I mumbled as I pressed it and held it down. There was a small pulse of blue light, and the disc I had slotted in two days ago slid right out into my palm.

“What is that?” Eve asked glancing at the disc. I wanted to make a sarcastic comment, but I could understand where she was coming from.

Instead of the perfectly uniform disc that had gone into my badge, this one was marred by thick grey lines that almost looked like scorch marks. They split the face of the disc into thirds. The top left third had a large circular hole punched into it that went clear through the disc.

“You can use a disc more than once,” I explained. “It really depends on what kind. This one works three times, but I’ve seen some that can be used six times, and my dad had one that you could use unlimited times. The marks show how many times you've used it, and they also show buyers that it has been used. Pretty clever ay?”

Eve nodded, but her legs were bouncing and she kept shuffling her feet impatiently. Honestly it looked like she had to pee. “Okay, come on let's go!”

“What do you see in her?” Vix whispered to me as we left the room.

“So what's the job,” I called to Eve as she lead us up the Main Street.

“It should be rather simple. Apparently it has been raining here a lot, and that caused a mudslide that crashed into this guy's home. This also brought a ley line close enough to the surface to create a Mystery Dungeon that basically swallowed his house. He said he’ll pay us 800P if we go in and find some of his important belongings.”

“Sounds good,” I said as we passed the last house and traveled up into the Scale mountains. “How far is it?”

“Not much farther,” Eve said, and sure enough just a few moments later we passed thick iron gate with lightning motifs with a grand road running through it. Secured to the side of the gate was a crude cardboard sign upon which someone had scrawled a rough drawing of what appeared to be the Expedition Society logo. The gates hung open revealing a path that lead into the dense woods.

“This is it,” Eve mentioned quite unnecessarily. Together we passed nervously through the gate.

At the edge of the tree line, two small tents were set up, not unlike the ones that were in our disc camp. As we approached, the larger of the two tents seemed to shiver before a great black mess of hair began to emerge. He moved slowly, but as a star tipped tail momentarily swung into view it became clear that it was a Luxray. Finally the Pokémon managed to escape the tent.

“Sorry about that. They don't really make tents for Pokémon my size. He lifted his head to grin at us, and my heart nearly stopped. His huge, shaggy, black mane had been hiding his features earlier so I hadn't noticed that instead of the normal blue fur of any other Luxray, his was bright yellow. This Luxray, whoever he was, was shiny!

“Run Vix,” I shouted jumping in front of the little fox, “go back to HQ and find Kegan! We will hold him off!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” the Luxray protested backing up a step, “calm down little guy. Trust me I’m not a part of the Hatred. I promise.”

“And why should I believe you?!” Vix hadn't moved, and that annoyed me a little bit, and Eve had frozen with shock. Despite this I was ready to fight.

The second tent shook, and a small blue-and-black head emerged from it. “Papa? What's going on?”

The big Luxray looked directly at me with a desperate, pleading look on his face. “Because if I was a part of the Hatred, I wouldn't have a son.”

Honestly it was hard to argue with that logic. It was even Harder when Vix spat a small ember into my tail. It couldn't damage me, but it definitely hurt.

“Get off of me weirdo!” Vix said.

“Er, Buzz,” the big Luxray said to his son, “why don't you and, um…”

“Vix,” Eve prompted quietly.

“-yes, er, Vix go and play for a while while we, uh, talk business.”

Vix huffed, annoyed, but with one quick glare from Eve she complied.

“Come on kid,” Vix said, “let's go, that is if you can keep up with me.”

“Hey,” the little guy said, “don't call me that!”

“What?” Vix taunted her tails starting to wag.

“How old are you?” Buzz challenged.

“I’m nine,” Vix nearly shouted.

“Oh yeah, well I’m twelve, and that means that you can't call me kid!”

“I’ll make you eat those words,” Vix yelled charging at him.

While they played, I moved over to talk to Eve.

“So what do you make of him?” I whispered glancing meaningfully at our employer.

“What do you mean?” Eve asked.

“You and I both know that you took a quick Psychic reading of him. I felt it. I’m a Psychic Type too ya know.” Eve blushed. I was right. “So. Is he a part of the Hatred?”

Eve hesitated. “No.”

“No?”

Eve bit her lip, “I found a slight connection to the Hatred, but I couldn't see what it was.”

“Was he a member? Is he still a member?”

“I don't know,” Eve snapped, “I told you I have no idea. I did find that Buzz is his son, and the mother wasn't shiny.”

A sudden thought struck me. “Did the Hatred kill his mate? That would explain the Hatred connection.”

Eve hesitated. “I don't think so.”

“So what do we do?” I whispered. “Should we take this job?”

“We can ask him,” Eve muttered, “as Expedition Society members we are entitled to ask any question about any job we take.”

“Will he answer honestly?” I challenged.

“If he doesn't, we just don't take the job.”

“Okay,” I said feeling just a bit better.

“Hey, you guys.” The Luxray was now talking directly to us. “Whenever you are ready, you can ask me about my connection to Team Hatred.”

He surprised me. Not because he knew that we knew (we were two Psychic types it was really inevitable), but because he was nonchalant about it all, like he expected it. “I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant it, “it's just that who we are and what we have done… if the Hatred were to find out about us-”

“Yeah I understand. From the moment I saw that ring of fur on that young lady’s tail I understood. Team Hatred must be itching to get their paws on her.”

My stomach dropped out. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. “Please. Don't tell.” My voice was a thin rasp. It was all I could manage. “What even is your connection to the Hatred?!”

The Luxray shook his head. “Nothing, not anymore. Not for a while.”

Eve stepped forward trying to be diplomatic. “I think we got off on the wrong foot here. Can we at least get your name sir.”

The Luxray laughed a warm, jovial laugh. “It seems we did. I am Leopold, Leo. And you are.”

“Eve, the paranoid one over there is Slink (“hey!”), and she,” she pointed out to where Vix was pelting Buzz with embers as she chased him around, “is Vix.”

“I’m not paranoid, I’m cautious,” I protested. Neither Eve nor Leo seemed convinced. “So what's your story Leo?”

“There isn't much to tell really,” he said laying down so he was closer to eye-level, “I joined up when I was a Luxio, I was maybe fourteen. That was really the only choice for a shiny Pokémon back in those days. I was only ever a low level operative because I never really believed in their mission. It was just my job.

“I only ever had one solo mission, ten years in, and that was a simple reconnaissance mission to this town. Here I met my mate. She wasn't shiny, so I couldn't bring her back to Hatred HQ, so I stuck around, telling my superiors that I was on the trail of a huge secret until I was able to convince her to run away with me.

“Funnily enough we found what the Hatred was after just outside of town, so we moved back to town and built a house thinking that if the Hatred came looking we could just pay them off. Of course they never did.”

“And your mate?” Eve asked gently.

“I honestly don't know.” Leo admitted. “She got sick shortly before we had Buzz. She laid the egg and then…” He trailed off, and finally I felt bad for him. “Anywho. Are you guys taking the job?”

“Of course we will,” I said, “so what is the job?”

Leo smiled. “It really is simple, but I was injured a few years ago when I went through a Dungeon and I can't do it anymore. As I posted, our house was recently swallowed into a Mystery Dungeon. I need someone to go in and retrieve some important things for me. It really is a simple list. There really is only one potential problem. Buzz wants to go too.”

“What?” I asked not exactly sure what he had said.

“Buzz wants to go in as well and grab some of his things. I didn't want to send him in alone. I figured I would have to convince whatever team came, but since you have someone as young as Vix…”

I bit my lip and looked at Eve. For the record she looked apprehensive as well. Adventuring with Vix, who we had legal custody of was one thing, but taking another child along… And that wasn't considering Vix's secret. Leo already knew, but he would be discreet. Buzz may not have been shiny, but who knew if he was going to encounter the Hatred in the future. If the Hatred was tracking us even now and ended up finding Leo and Buzz, Leo alone might be able to deny seeing us, but Buzz would more than likely give us away.

“You know that Mystery Dungeons are dangerous and unpredictable,” Eve began hesitantly, “even with Vix’s help we really don't know what might happen. If something happens to one of us, well that's our job. I wouldn't want anything to happen to Buzz…”

“I completely understand,” Leo nodded, “but I have accepted the risks and explained them to Buzz, and he still insists on going. I also will not hold you or the Expedition Society liable for anything that happens.”

Uh-oh, my turn. I decided to go with honesty. “Leo, we just aren't sure… when Vix reveals her powers in the Dungeon… can Buzz keep a secret?”

Leo looked confused. Then a realization dawned on his face. “Wait, Vix uses her navigational powers. Do you know how much danger that puts her in?”

“Tell me about it,” I grumbled.

“What Slink means is that she isn't afraid of Team Hatred. Her powers are a source of pride for her. I doubt she’d quit out of fear. I’m honestly not sure that she has any fear.”

“That is a bit scary,” Leo said a bit perturbed, “anyways I will keep him discreet.”

Eve looked at me with a shrug that said, “your call.”

I sighed, hoping that I wasn’t about to regret this. “We’ll take Buzz.”

“Thank you,” Leo said. “BUZZ!” He called.

The Shinx looked over at us… at exactly the wrong time. Vix plowed him over with an honestly beautiful tackle. “Sorry,” I heard her say, but it didn’t feel like she was being honest.

“Coming dad,” Buzz called running over. Vix followed behind calmly. She seemed to be trying to act more mature than Buzz. She stuck close to Eve.

While Leo explained the situation to Buzz, I turned to face Eve and Vix. “Okay so here’s the plan. Vix you have be discreet with your powers. You can still use them, but just don’t tell us you are. Just tell us about the dungeon, okay?”

“Fine,” Vix grumbled.

“So I think, depending on how many floors this dungeon has, that we should find out the floor plan of the house and then split up and search. We should be fine.” Eve looked back and forth between Vix and me. I nodded. Seemed like a good plan.

“Okay,” Leo said, “whenever you are ready…” he gestured toward the forest and the mansion peeking up over the top.

“Buzz, you ready?” I asked.

He nodded excitedly. “Let’s go.”

We bid farewell to Leo, and we headed into the forest. A few minutes later we passed through into the Dungeon. “So, I wonder how many floors this Dungeon has?” I asked looking pointedly at Vix.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. “I’d guess that there are, oh about five floors here. But I also don’t think that this floor would have anything to do with the actual house. This floor is only the estate around this mansion.”

“Okay, so where are we going?” Buzz asked. “I think that we have to go this way,” he said turning towards the house.

“Actually,” Vix said with an air of superiority, “I think we have to go this way.” She turned left and began walking down a path surrounded with hedges.

“Oh, yeah,” Buzz retorted, “whose house is this? Who probably knows it better? Wait, where are you going wait up!” We had started down the other path following Vix, and he was forced to run and catch up.

We wandered through the honestly beautiful gardens for about ten minutes, passing weak, feral bug types as well as some grass types but none of them bothered us. Sure enough about fifteen minutes after we entered the Dungeon, Vix had lead us right to the front door of the house which incidentally was also the stone platform.

“What’s with that stone platform?” Buzz asked.

“It’s are the portal to the next floor,” I tried to explain. “We need to move to the next floor.” Buzz just shrugged. “Good job Vix,” I said, “at this rate we will be in and out of here in no time.”

“Thanks, Slink,” she replied scathingly, “you know how much I value your opinion!”

She pushed past me, stepped onto the stone platform and vanished. “Oh, cool!” Buzz shouted. He leapt onto the platform and disappeared too.

I sighed unhappily, but before I could move onto the next floor, Eve stopped me.

“I honestly thought that she would be over it by now.” She shook her head.

“Yeah, I did too,” I snapped angrily.

“Look, you two need to talk. Otherwise nothing is going to get any better. Please talk to her.”

“Eve, I’m not even sure I can, she doesn’t listen and she acts like I don’t exist whenever she doesn’t want to talk. I don’t know what to do!”

“When we search the next floor, I’ll take Buzz and you can talk to Vix alone. We won’t move on until you two talk.”

“Sure,” I said gritting my teeth.

“And hey, don’t yell at her. Or at least not enough to make things worse.”

We crossed onto the next floor and found Buzz and Vix waiting for us. “Took long enough you two-”

She was interrupted by a sudden loud tune. Somewhere a short tune was playing. “Eve, I think it’s coming from your bag.” I said.

She looked confused for a minute as she put her bag on the ground and began rooting through it. “Oh, I think its coming from the Expedition Gadget.” The music suddenly cut off as she pulled it out and read something off of the screen. “Slink come here, look at this.”

There was an envelope icon in the top crystal sphere, and the screen was full of text. It read:

**_To: All Expedition Society Members_ **

**** **_From: Kegan, Fire Continent HQ_ **

**** **_Attention all society members. There has been a severe accident within Society HQ. Nobody was hurt, but it did major damage to our Warp Landing room. Because of this, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT attempt to warp back to HQ, even if you are in mortal peril. If this requires that you delay your current contracts or missions the Society will reimburse you for any losses. We will do everything in our power to get the Warp system up and running again, but we predict at best we can have repairs done tomorrow._ **

**_T_ ** **_hank you,_ **

**_Kegan_ **

“Okay”, I said with a shrug, “so we walk home? Big deal.”

Eve nodded. “I was just making sure. So, Vix what is the floor plan here.”

Vix closed her eyes. “Umm, looks like there are really only four main rooms, and there are five small rooms.”

“That’s a lot, and we have to look through each one?” Buzz said.

“We should split up,” I suggested innocently, “that way we can cover more ground. Eve, you take Buzz and check out the larger rooms, Vix and I can cover the smaller rooms. Whoever finds the portal can signal the other where it is.”

Eve nodded. “ That’ll work. Just let us know when you are done.” With that she started off down the hall with Buzz in tow.

“Okay,” Vix said starting off in the opposite direction, “we have more rooms to check so let's get going.”

“Alright,” I said bracing myself, “but first we have to talk.”

Vix froze for a moment as my words washed over her. She recovered quickly and just kept walking. “Sure, we can talk while we look,” she insisted nervously.

“No, Vix, we need to talk now. Face to face.”

“Come on,” Vix insisted sounding a bit more scared, “we have to look. We can talk later!”

I could feel my anger rising, but I pushed it down. “No, you aren’t going to avoid this. Stop and come talk to me!”

“I don’t want to talk,” Vix snapped. She was losing her patience faster than I was. She started walking faster.

“Vix,” I barked. She ignored me. She didn’t even look back. “Vix,” I said raising my voice a little. She continued to ignore me. “VIX, stop!” Nothing.

My anger finally boiled over. “VIX STOP WALKING!” I reached out with my Psychic and grabbed her, stopping her in her tracks.

“Hey,” she shouted wriggling and kicking to get free. I clamped down with my power, completely immobilizing her. I turned her around and pulled her so our faces were inches apart.

“We are going to have a conversation. Understand?” I growled through gritted teeth. “We need figure this out. I know I messed up, I understand that. I apologized, I did everything that I could to fix things. What do you want me to do?” I glared into Vix’s frozen face. I saw her usual cocky defiance, but in her eyes I noticed a gleam of fear and vulnerability.

I felt a tingle of guilt in my gut. I released her and she immediately flopped to the ground. She slowly worked her way back to sitting position, panting. “Vix, I’m sorry I overreacted, but my question still stands. What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing.” She snapped. “You said we were a family, and then you tried to give me away!”

“I was trying to keep you safe!” I protested, but at this point I didn’t even believe me.

“No,” Vix snapped, “you were just doing exactly what she did!”

“She?” I shot back, “Who is ‘she’?”

“It’s not important,” Vix said backpedaling rapidly, back on the defensive, “that isn’t the point.”

“Vix,” I shouted, “who is ‘she’?”

The little fox in front of me shook. In fear, in anger? I had no idea. Suddenly she exploded.

“MY MOTHER!” She screeched with everything she had. This beautiful girl that I had always seen as strong and fearless finally broke down and cried.

“Vix?” I said, genuinely concerned. She didn’t respond. I sat down in front of her and pulled her close. She buried her face in my chest and started to sob. I just held her as she cried.

“That - night - I,” she gasped as she spoke. Each word punctuated by a sob. For the first time in awhile I had to remind myself that she was a child. “I - mom - she told me - to stay there - they were after me -.” She hiccuped a few times before continuing. “She said she was - keeping - me - safe. I went after her - and - she - and they - the Hatred - they - to her.”

She fell silent for a moment, but I remembered. I felt even worse now for invading her mind to see that memory. They had killed her mother, right in front of her. The Ninetales hadn’t stood a chance. “Vix, I know, I understand.”

“No - they - no - she. She told me to stay there. I could have helped her. I could have saved her.”

“No, Vix, no. Vix you couldn’t have done anything.” But I knew the little fox wouldn’t believe me. I knew what I had to do.

“Vix, did I tell you how my parents died?”

She shook her head, keeping her face buried in my chest fur.

“I don’t know why they were there. But that night, Team Hatred had the house surrounded. They were trying to break in. My dad woke me up. He told me to hide, he pushed me into the hiding place. I was afraid, but I trusted my dad. I thought he would get us through it. So I stayed put. Then the Hatred entered, and they - did it. I was frozen by shock. They killed my sister too. I could have saved her. But I didn’t. But I also realize now that I couldn’t.”

Vix lifted her head to look at me. “What do you mean?”

“I have no idea why, but the Hatred is after me, just like they are after you. My family was protecting me, they made that decision. They could have saved themselves better than I could have. They died to protect me, just like how your mother died to protect you.”

“But-” Vix tried to protest, but I cut her off.

“Vix I was just trying to protect you. But now I truly realize how wrong I was. They say that the best way to show how much you love someone is to be willing to give up your life for theirs. Vix, I would die to save you, and that is how I’m going to keep you safe.”

Vix didn’t know what to say, so she put her face back into my chest. We sat like that for awhile in complete silence except for the slight sounds of Buzz and Eve exploring. It was a while, but eventually VIx spoke up.

“Slink? What happens after you find the Dreamstone?”

My blood ran cold, but thankfully I was saved from answering as Eve and Buzz came back.

_I see you two had a nice conversation,_ Eve said into my head as she approached. Aloud she said, “We found a few of the items, and we searched all of the rooms. Should we be on our way?”

“Good idea,” I said, “Vix? Where to next?”

She gave me a suspicious look, and I knew she wouldn’t forget how I dodged the question. “It should be just down that hallway. Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Buzz protested, “how does she know where to go? You two haven’t moved since we split up and my dad told me that nobody can predict the map of a Dungeon. She even knew how many rooms there were?!”

We all were silent for a moment before Vix looked at me. “I blame you.” Thankfully she was back to her sarcastic form of mean rather than the recent hateful variety.

“Buzz, Vix lived inside of a Mystery Dungeon up until about three days ago. She has an instinct you could say for predicting the patterns of Dungeons.” I stopped and took a breath. Honestly that was the smoothest lie I had ever told. Good job me.

“Okay,” Buzz said, “that makes sense. So on to the next floor then?”

From there thankfully there wasn’t much excitement. We passed through the third floor easily and we managed to find most of the items we were searching for. On the fourth floor we really didn’t find anything that we were particularly looking for. That is until we were almost to the exit.

In the second to last room I found myself drawn to a display case in the back corner. “Hey Buzz, what is this?” Inside on a small pedestal was what looked like a shard of a glass statue. I was fairly certain that it wasn’t glass, in fact it looked like some sort of crystal. It was a curved cylinder that had jagged protrusions all over it leading to a sharp point.

“I honestly have no idea,” Buzz said when I got his attention. “Dad always called it his ‘insurance policy’ whatever that means.”

I remembered what Leo had told me, about the special artifact that Team Hatred was after. Why? Was this it? That image from my dream flashed before my eyes. That drippy Umbreon setting out those four objects to… I don’t know.

“Hey can I take this?” I asked Buzz.

“I think so. It will just stay in the Dungeon otherwise. If my dad wanted it he would have put it on the list.” He finished looking around the room. “Hey guys I don’t think there is anything left here. The rest of the stuff on this list should be in the vault that we keep in the attic. We should move on.”

I nodded as I tried to pry the cabinet open, but it wouldn’t budge. I was a bit frustrated until I realized that I was standing inside of a Mystery Dungeon. Neither Leo or Buzz would ever see it again. I found what looked like a paperweight and hurled it at the glass with my power. I tried to lift the crystal out through the now broken glass, but it wouldn’t budge. I tried again, focusing all of my power on the crystal, but it still didn’t move.

“Hey, Eve,” I called. She wanered over avoidig the broken glass that was now strewn across the floor. “Can you lift that crystal?”

“Why?” Eve asked curiously. “Can’t you do it?”

“Actually no,” I replied, “but I wonder if you can do it.”

Eve closed her eyes, and the gem in her forehead started glowing with a bright purple light. A similar light gathered around the crystal, but before it could start working on the jewel the crystal seemed to suck up the light turning it briefly purple. The color faded almost instantly and that was it. Eve looked confused. “Well that is odd,” we said nearly at the same time.

Carefully I leapt up, using my Fire to melt any shards of glass in my way. My paw connected with the crystal and a jolt of energy went up my foreleg knocking me back. “Slink, are you okay?” Eve cried.

“I’m good.” I gasped. Strangely now that it was in my hand the crystal seemed like a normal object again. I slipped it into my bag as I caught my breath. “I’m fine, should we get going?”

Oddly enough, the stone platform was simply in the next room. When we landed on the next floor we found ourselves in a barren, wooden room that was roughly square-shaped with exits on either end.

“Okay,” Vix said. She concentrated for a moment. “There seems to mostly be hallways up here. There is one big room in the middle, and there are four places to exit.”

“Ooh,” Buzz said excitedly, “I bet that the vault is in the center huh?”

“I agree,” Eve said, but something seemed to be bothering her. “Slink can you feel that? I don't think that we are alone up here.”

I closed my eyes and sent out a pulse of my power. I could feel Eve’s mind, Vix’s mind, and Buzz’s minds right next to me, but somewhere I felt another, less complex mind. “Eve is right.”

“The Hatred?” Vix asked. She sounded almost anxious. Not afraid, but also not uncaring.

“I don't think so,” Eve said, “for starters there is only one. The only member of the Hatred who I know would come alone is Shane. And I would definitely know if it was him.”

“Probably just a feral who moved in,” I said calmly. “We will be fine.”

As we turned to go however I caught Eve’s eye. She let the kids get a good distance away before speaking. “What?”

“Were you serious that it wasn't Shane, or were you just telling them that?”

“Slink, it isn't Shane. I wouldn’t keep this a secret, especially since we can’t warp out. Trust me.”

Don't tell her I said this, but there was honestly no one I trusted more.

Vix carefully lead us out of the room and into the hallway. No offense to Buzz or Leo, but their attic looked like the set of a horror movie. Despite the fact that it was day, the hallways in the attic were extremely dim and dusty. The wood paneling on the floor and walls was breaking down, so there were gaps everywhere. Feral Ratata scurried under the floorboards, and occasionally over them causing Eve or sometimes Buzz to let out a squeak. Any windows we passed were smeared with grime and dust, letting in only small patches of light.

“This should be it,” Vix said, “the vault should be in this room.”

I felt a tingle in the back of my head as we crossed over into the room. I closed my eyes and sent out a pulse of psychic power. I immediately felt Vix, Eve, and Buzz, but then there was a flash of light as the other mind appeared. _Protect. Protect. Attack._ The new mind shouted. I felt a pulse of electrical energy from the center of the room. Vix was still leading us deeper into the room, and she didn’t notice.

“Vix look out!” I dove forward and tackled Vix. I rolled us behind a weird wardrobe that was sitting in the corner. “Everyone, get down!”

There was a bright yellow flash of light and suddenly a burst of electricity blasted the floor right where we were standing, badly scorching it. Vix and I scrambled to our feet, both of us peering out from behind the wardrobe. Who was attacking us?

I saw a flash of red and white before another burst of yellow. “Move,” I shouted pushing Vix out of the way. Not a moment too soon, as the wardrobe exploded amid a burst of yellow, spitting sparks.

“Hey, over here,” I heard from the far side of the room. Eve was standing out in the open waving her tails in the air. I heard a growl that sounded like an Electric buzz. I broke cover for a moment to investigate. An Electrode rolled around the middle of the room in a fury. He was facing the still taunting Eve and was preparing another attack.

“No, over here,” I shouted. I took a deep breath, called up my rage, and let a Flamethrower attack pour from my mouth. Over the roar of flames I could barely detect the growl of pain from the feral Pokémon. Of course I didn't want to kill him so I stopped my stream of Fire to check if he was unconscious.

He wasn't.

He turned on me faster than I expected and before I could react he blasted me with Electricity. I was flung backwards and slammed into a wall. As the Electricity worked through my body I felt my muscles freeze. Paralysis. I was in trouble.

Obviously I was paralyzed for most of this, so bear with me. Vix and Eve filled me in with everything I missed. I put that together as best I could, so just go along with it.

“Slink,” I heard Eve cry, “Vix get Slink. Help him.”

Behind me, Vix leapt over the couch we had been using for cover and grabbed the nape of my neck with her sharp little teeth.

“Hey, careful” I protested through numb lips.

“Fine, I’ll leave you out here!” Vix’s muffled voice responded with absolutely no sympathy. Nonetheless she didn't let go.

In the meantime Eve leapt up on the box she had been hiding behind. “Hey, bolt-brain, over here!” She charged up a Psy-shock attack. Splinters and larger shards of wood levitated off the ground, each bit of shrapnel encased in Psychic energy. Eve yelled as she thrust her forked tail toward the Electrode. The shards shot into the Electrode, each with the speed of a bullet. None of them penetrated his steel skin, but they left several nasty dents, and more importantly caught his attention.

“Vix,” I was forced to mumble, “I should have a Cherri berry somewhere in my bag.” She dragged me back behind a crate in the attic and somehow managed to pull my bag out from under me.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said nosing into it. “‘Would die for me’ my fourth tail.” She muttered as she dug around inside.

As the Electrode turned around he fired, a bolt of Electricity burning the wall. Just in time, Eve ducked into cover. “Buzz,” she hissed, “any ideas? My Psychic isn’t working, and Vix and Slink are a bit preoccupied.” Buzz looked terrified. He wasn’t going to be much help.

“Buzz, how vulnerable are Electric Types to Electricity?” Eve was grasping for an idea.

“Umm, not too bad. It will hurt us, but not that much. What are you thinking?”

“Something probably very stupid. Zap him if you need to, but watch my back.” Eve leapt back up on the box and closed her eyes. Her gem flared to life, glowing bright pink, but nothing appeared.

“Eve, what are you doing?!” Vix screamed. Unfortunately I couldn’t turn my head to look.

The Electrode turned to face her and grinned. It charged a lightning ball holding onto it as long as it could, sparks shooting off in every direction. He let go and it sped at Eve. But before it struck her there was a flash of pink light, and the ball of lightning rebounded, exploding against the Electrode. He rolled backwards from the force, and he looked a bit dazed.

The feral Pokémon growled, charging a Thunderbolt. As he released it through another flash of pink light bounced the bolt back. This revealed a bright dome surrounding the Pokémon.

This really made him angry as he readied himself to unleash a devastating discharge attack. Before he could though, Eve clamped down on him with her power and lifted the ball off of the ground. He was losing it. His body was entirely flashing yellow. He discharged, but all of it was contained. Unfortunately was the last straw for Eve. Her strength finally gave out.

The Electrode fell back to the ground, nearly drained, but he was still going. He charged his power, and Eve was far too exhausted to move.

“Vix,” I mumbled, “go help Eve! I’ll be fine!”

Vix nodded and leapt over the crate we were sheltered behind. She charged up for a moment before a thick stream of Fire exploded from her maw. With the last dregs of his strength the Electrode rolled to the side out of the Flames. He shot a thunderbolt at Vix before she could recover from her attack. She closed her eyes.

The thunderbolt shot closer before it struck…Buzz. He had thrown himself in front of Vix, absorbing the Electricity. His eyes flashed with lightning as he shot another thunderbolt at the Electrode, finally...finally knocking him out.

“Yeah,” Buzz called triumphantly before he collapsed.

“Buzz,” Eve cried, “Vix, I got him. How is Slink?”

“I’m fine,” I called out as I tried to levitate the Cherri berry to my mouth with Psychic. When Eve called out to me I turned my head to face her. I smiled as best I could with my numb frozen lips. As I looked though I noticed movement behind her. My concentration lapsed momentarily and I dropped the Cherri berry that rolled into the gap between the floorboards and was lost. But I was beyond caring at that moment because of what I could see behind my team. A light. A flash of light, coming from the Electrode.

Self destruct!

I couldn’t move, and I didn’t have time to call out to them. My blood felt cold from the level of Psychic power flowing throughout my body, but the rush of adrenaline I got along with my instinctual rush of heat from Fire began to warm me up. I struggled against the paralysis trying to get my muscles to work. Then just as the heat of Fire and the chill of Psychic evened out, something that would normally lead to them cancelling each other out, a warmth settled in my chest, slowly bleeding out into the rest of my body. In an instant my muscles unfroze. I dove forward as the Electrode began to flash faster and faster with a white light.

I felt the warmth leave me as I sprinted at my team. I felt the cold of Psychic wash over me as I saw the Electrode flare solid white for a instant. I threw up a Psychic shield around my team as I dove for them.

**_Whoom!_ **

I was blind. The whole world was white and my ears were ringing, drowning out any other sound. Yet despite the pain my body refused to stop. My brain refused to let me pass out. I felt something touch my shoulder, nudge it, push against it.

“S...k!” I could barely make it out. I blinked, but I couldn’t see a thing. I swung my head around toward the sound.

“Sl..k,” the garbled voice came again. My head was pounding. Dull shapes began appearing in my vision, but I was still mostly blind.

“Sli.k, plea..,” there was the voice again. There was the touch on my shoulder again, but instead of the pain I expected, a great numbing sensation oozed outward from the paw. Relief. I probably didn’t hear it all that well, but I know that I groaned out in ecstasy as the pain vanished.

As the wave of relief washed over my head, my vision and hearing snapped back into gear. Honestly I wished they hadn’t. The attic was in flames. Each wooden surface was engulfed in flame. The ceiling the walls and worst of all, the floor.

I shook my head and struggled to my feet. The soothing touch slipped from my shoulder, and I almost collapsed as the wave of pain washed over me. “Wuzzat?” I mumbled turning towards where that soothing touch had been and was met with a bright light. I leapt back in shock, thinking that it was a flame, but slowly the light faded away revealing Eve.

“Morning Sun,” she explained quickly, “you and Buzz were unconscious. Now we need to move!”

I shook my head trying to get my mind in gear. Vix came up to me and rubbed along my side trying to get me to move. “Eve, he still isn’t doing well. We need to stop and heal him. Or find him an Oran berry. Something!”  
“Vix we don’t have time,” she shouted as she dodged a falling, flaming, plank of wood. “We need to get out of here now!”

Vix reached up to my chest, aiming for my badge. “Lets just send him back to HQ. We can warp back home after… Both Eve and I grabbed her paw and forced it away from my badge.

“No!” Eve said. “They are fixing the warp system. You press his badge and who knows where you will send him! Now hurry, get on his left, I will get on his right. Where is the nearest exit?”

Vix moved to my side and ran three of her tails across my belly and used them to lift me up slightly. It made it much easier to move. “Just down that hall.” Then she froze. Her tails dropped suddenly sending a new wave of pain through my body. “Wait one second! Where is Buzz?”

Eve froze, and I heard it. A thin, quiet rasp. “Help!”

In an instant my pain was forgotten. I had made a promise to Leo, and I was going to keep it! I used my Psychic to pick up some of my weight as I sprinted across the attic. “Buzz,” I called, “Buzz!”

Then I spotted it, a blue paw sticking out from a pile of debris that had fallen from the ceiling. The flames were spreading closer. I concentrated and began prying the boards up one by one with my power.

“Slink, watch out!” Eve shouted. Huh? I looked up and saw one of the major beams holding up the roof directly overhead. It was also on Fire. It was also falling. Without a second thought I latched onto Buzz with my thoughts and rolled out of the way. No matter what, Buzz was coming with me.

**_Crash!_** The floor split as the timber crashed through it. Flames flared up, and the gap got bigger. I could easily jump across, but Buzz wasn’t looking so good. “My leg!” he cried clutching at his back left leg. I nearly lost consciousness once again at the sight of his leg. It definitely wasn’t supposed to bend that way. Especially as it was nearly bent back on itself. I used my Psychic solely on him to levitate him onto my back. I dug through my bag as I hobbled for the door. I bit into the first berry I encountered. Thankfully it was an Oran berry, and I immediately felt much better.

“Slink… exit… left… right…” the roar of the flames drowned out Vix’s voice. I wasn’t worried about her anymore. Me on the other hand…

“Buzz, I promise I will get us out of here!” I said limping down the corridor. Damn, today was the day that the warp system needed to be repaired?

The roaring flames weren't that much of an issue. They wouldn't hurt me unless I went and stood within them for several minutes on end. Buzz on the other hand was definitely much more flammable. I needed an exit, and I needed it now.

I tried to follow what little of Vix’s instructions that I could. Left turn as soon as I could, right at the next intersection. But then I hit a dead end. I had no idea where I was going. I slowly eased Buzz to the floor and took a minute to breathe (which was getting harder. The flames couldn't bother me but the smoke certainly did) before I reached inward and found the stem of my Psychic power. Then… what I did is hard to describe for anyone who isn't a Psychic type. I reached backwards through my mind, following my Psychic power. From there I searched around until I felt something familiar.

_Eve_ I shouted out as loud as I could through my mind.

_Slink?_ Her voice was panicked and sad. _Slink, say something!_

_Eve, talk to Vix. We are at a dead end. We need help. We need a way out!_

_Okay, okay,_ she responded, _I will talk with Vix._ She went silent for a long moment.

_Slink?_ Her voice suddenly came again.

_I’m here_ I shouted.

_Vix can't find you. The smoke and fire are throwing off her senses. Can you use a disk to hunker down for a few minutes?_

_No,_ I nearly screamed, _those camps aren't airtight. We may avoid the fire, but we will asphyxiate._

_Okay, okay_ , Eve said, _so you are in a dead end. Vix says go right._

I levitated Buzz back onto my back. He was completely out of it at this point, which was probably best. _Right? Okay now what?_

_Go straight, and then take the third left._ I charged ahead walking as quickly as I could, but before I made it to my next turn a thought struck me.

_Wait, Vix can still sense the Dungeon. She is guiding me through? ARE YOU STILL IN THE DUNGEON!?_

Eve sent me a reproachful expression through my head. _Of course we are. We aren't leaving you behind._

_Get out!_ As I made the turn I was filled with panic. _Get out! I will find my way out. You two need to go!_

_Next left._ Eve paused. _You nearly died twice today, just for us. We need to risk for you too._

I turned once more, but the fire was spreading faster and faster. Things were starting to get even warmer. _Please promise me that when you are in danger, you will leave!_

_But-_ Eve tried to protest.

_No, this isn't negotiable. Get out when the time comes!_

_Fine,_ Eve grumbled, _third left and then the next right. That should be it. All you have to do-_

There was a moment of what I would call static in her head. One thing was communicated. _Fear **.**_

_Eve, get out! Get Vix and get OUT!_ I broke the connection. I took a deep breath and then turned the corner. This hall was in flames, the air nearly opaque from smoke.

Buzz started thrashing and choking on my back. He was still only barely conscious, but that also means that he was taking normal breaths in this toxic environment. I took the right turn. There it was, a bright window at the end of the hall.

I braced myself, then I pushed. I ran full tilt as fast as I could. I felt muscles burn and tear. My vision narrowed to this one goal. The window. I think this is how feral Pokémon see the world. This fractured whole. This exhaustive pain.

Buzz went limp on my back. It was now or never! I leapt up at the window. I ducked my head. I felt the crash, and then my body gave out.

I only remember dull flashes from there on. “Slink! Buzz!” It was Eve I was certain of that. Then I heard a short gasp.

The next thing I remember she was cradling my head and seemingly screaming into the air. “We are back behind the house hurry up. Neither of them look good. I gave Buzz every berry I had, but he is still in bad condition.” She paused for a moment.

“No I can't use Morning Sun. Not now!” As I spiraled back into darkness I realized that it must be night.

From there it was truly only fragmented moments. Leo was there delicately cradling Buzz. Vix was there, curled against my chest, crying.

I was spinning, I was moving. The world vanished in a flash of light. Kegan was there, but then he was gone.

When I came to for good I was in a soft bed in a stone room. There was a bank of windows across from me and dozens of other beds in the room. I lifted my head from the pillow and gasped. Not from pain, but because it no longer hurt to move.

“Slink?” I heard the voice, then running footsteps. A great weight landed on my stomach and a flurry of fur filled my vision.

“Vix?” I mumbled into her fur. The little fox was clutching me with a death grip, as though someone was going to take me away at any second. Instead of pushing her off, or trying to move to get some air, I wrapped my front legs around her and nuzzled into her.

“I’m so sorry Slink. I should have forgiven you the morning after. I would hate myself if you had died, and I hadn't forgiven you. I do Slink. I do forgive you. And I don't care what you do after you find the Dreamstone! We are family!” Eve came up the side of the bed as I clutched the nearly hysterical Vulpix.

I tried to smile at her, and she half smiled back. Her face was still tight with worry and anger. “I am so glad you're safe.”

Vix had calmed down a bit, so she just laid on my chest. As soon as she was settled I asked the most important question on my mind. “Is Buzz okay?”

Eve grimaced for a moment before relaxing. “He’s fine. Or at least he will be. He sustained some burns, and his leg was nearly shattered beyond repair, but he will make a full recovery. He’s over there actually.”

I rolled over. Five beds down I was just able to make out a small, fuzzy, blue form in one of the beds. Leo was there too. He sat somberly at his son's bedside. He glanced up at us and nodded. I wasn't sure if it was simply acknowledgement or a basic sign of gratitude. I knew though that we were going to have a talk.

“Oh, thank Arceus! Now where are we?”

“Back at Society HQ,” Vix chirped happily.

“How?” I looked at Eve. “I thought the warp system was down.”

“It is, er was. I managed to get a call through to Kegan on the Expedition Gadget when I found you outside the house. I told him where we were. He zapped straight to us, took one look at the situation, and came back to get some help. When he came back, Leo and Vix had found us. They brought us all back and they have been spending Arceus knows how long trying to heal you.”

“How long was I out?”

Vix bit her lip. “About three days.”

I closed my eyes remembering how much I had hurt before in the attic. I had done that much damage to myself. How?

“He-hem.” It was a girly fake cough. We all jumped, turning to face the Blissey that was standing at the foot of my bed. “This patient needs rest,” she said sweetly, “visiting hours are over. It is time for you to leave.”

“But-” I protested but the Blissey just plowed on.

“I’m sorry but it is Hospital policy. You have to leave!”

“No.” I’m not sure who was more surprised. Me or Vix. Eve was staring down the nurse and holding her ground. “He just woke up and we are not leaving his side for anything. Understand?”

“Ma’am,” the Blissey said looking a bit less sure, “he will be perfectly safe overnight. I’m sure you and your friend would rather go home tonight as well.”

“Not really,” Vix replied. She hadn't moved at all since laying down on top of me. “I’m pretty comfortable right here.”

“Besides,” Eve argued, “If we are here he will be that much safer.”

“The patient must be tired. He needs his rest!”

“I feel fine,” I protested, “and besides I want them here. Just let them stay.”

The Blissey was about to argue, but another familiar voice interrupted her. “Candice they have my permission to stay overnight. So does the Luxray over there. They all may come and go from here as they please.” Kegan to the rescue once again.

The Blissey, Candace apparently, stormed off in a huff. Kegan pulled up a chair and sat by my bed. He sat there casually, like it was perfectly normal for him to be there.

“So, hell of a day to break the teleportation system huh?” I was trying to break the ice. At least Kegan chuckled.

“Why did you even go in there?” He said still laughing. “Did you not get my message?”

“Uh, we were already in the Dungeon when you sent that message. And it wasn't like we had planned on getting attacked by an Electrode.”

Kegan stopped laughing. “I guess so. Umm, young ladies, may I speak with Slink alone for a moment.”

Vix seemed like she wanted to argue, but Eve quickly escorted her away.

Kegan looked at me for a long moment before he closed his eyes and shook his head. “You are eighteen,” he said in disbelief. “Slink, you are eighteen years old, but you are so much braver than many of the adult members of the society. Your friends told me what happened. I am so impressed and proud of you.”

I was a bit taken aback at his words. They hadn't been what I was expecting.

“I do believe though that this leads to another important topic. You told me… that morning that you wanted Eve to have custody of Vix, and she has told me that you both want joint custody. I am fine with this and I will fill out the paperwork for you, but before I turn it in… What is your plan for protecting Vix from the Hatred?”

Well this conversation had just taken a sharp left turn. “Ummm, why?”

Kegan pursed his lips as if he had just been force fed sour candy. “When I sent in a report detailing Vix’s position, and threats made against her to the leaders of the Society, well they didn't take kindly to it. One of them, a really old Ampharos, said that he was once in the same situation as you are, but he ignored the danger and he lost one of the kids that he was supposed to look out for. He says that he would rather make Vix miserable, than have you or Eve make his mistake.”

There was a pregnant pause as I tried to process everything. “So what this means is…?”

Kegan sighed, “Ampharos added a clause to the Expedition Society charter. The Society now has the legal obligation to remove any child from someone's custody when they can't defend against a known, ongoing threat.” He looked directly into my eye. “This means that if you can prove that you can protect Vix, you can keep the custody.”

What? And he was just springing this on me now? I had no plan. Were we going to lose Vix?

I had no plan. I was powerless. It reminded me a lot of when I was lying paralyzed on the floor of the attic. But the more I thought of that, the more I thought about that Electrode. What had his plan been?

He was determined to defend his territory, but after he had been defeated, he did the one thing that would ensure that he defeated us. Self Destruct. A last ditch move for lost causes.

I had an idea. Quickly I explained the particulars to Kegan who signed off on it, giving his full approval. He also agreed to get me the supplies that I needed. He stopped to talk to Eve on the way out, but then he was gone.

That little talk and eureka moment had been oddly mentally taxing. “You know that nurse might be right. I think I’m gonna go to bed. Will you two please stay.”

“Of course Slink,” Eve said with a smile. “Sweet dreams.”

The next morning I have no idea what woke me. From how I felt, I knew that I should still be unconscious. I sat up and rubbed my eyes trying to wake up at least enough to understand why I was awake.

In the bed to my right, Eve and Vix had curled up together. Both were lying on their stomachs, using Vix’s tails as a blanket. Both of them were facing me, but they were both still asleep.

I turned left to see if Buzz and Leo were awake, only to find a mass of thick black fur. “Leo?” I whispered, trying to find the yellow face in the mass of fur.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” He turned and I finally saw his face. His expression was completely neutral so I couldn't even guess what he was going to say next.

“Yes,” I admitted, “but it's fine. Did you want something?”

“I do. We need to talk.” His voice was completely silent.

“What about?” I said nervously, just barely managing to keep my voice even.

“I need to thank you,” the big guy said. Honestly I wasn't expecting that.

“For what?”

Leo looked at me, he really looked at me, as if he was searching for a weakness. “You saved Buzz. From what he and your friends have told me, you saved his life several times.”

I shrugged at his praise. “He saved Vix, Eve saved him a few times. That is just what you do in a Dungeon.”

The big guy shook his head. “No, I have seen Expedition Society teams abandon each other. The Hatred has a greater good ideal where any weakness is purged. I know that this isn't just a common courtesy. Eve may have saved my son, and he may have saved Vix, but both times each party was in relatively little danger.

“Slink… do you know how close you came to dying? How hurt you were when you went to save my son? You had at least six broken ribs, a heavy concussion, and a huge amount of internal bleeding. If Eve hadn't found you when she had, you wouldn't still be here. You nearly died to save a near stranger, and I won’t forget that.”

“I was just doing what was right. What my father taught me to do.” I shook my head. “I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I hadn't saved him.”

“That only makes me appreciate what you did more. Look, Eve told me a bit about your parents, at least enough to establish why you didn't trust me at first. I don't know why the Hatred attacked you, but I still have one or two friends that are still a part of the organization. I could do some digging. Seriously if you need anything at all just ask me. I will find out and tell you everything I can.”

I was stunned at his gratitude. I could only nod. He smiled at me before ruffling my hair with one of his huge paws. He turned and started walking back to Buzz’s bed.

“Wait,” I said probably a bit louder than I intended. I had just seen my bag on my bedside table. “Did Buzz tell you about the crystal I took?” Leo flinched, then turned around. “It wasn't on the list, and it would eventually be lost when the Dungeon shifted. Buzz said I could have it…”

Leo turned to face me. He didn't look mad, but he did look a bit worried. “Was that the item that the Hatred was after? Your ‘insurance policy’?”

The big lion nodded slowly. “I was going to just let that thing disappear. I didn't expect you to keep it. Be warned, the Hatred will be after you if you keep it.”

I shrugged. “Can it be any worse than it is now?”

Leo couldn't help but smile. “I guess not.” He turned to go again, but another question shot into my head.

“Does this have anything to do with the Dreamstone?” Leo didn't turn around this time.

“What is that?” He responded.

I guess it wasn't, or at least he had no idea if it was or not. “Never mind. Thanks.”

I slumped backwards onto my pillow. Two steps forward, one step back. That's how it always went.

Before I could settle back to sleep, the main doors creaked open and Kegan poked his head in. He spotted me, saw that I was awake, and then comically tip-toed over to my bed. He was holding a brown paper bag in his left hand that swung a little with every step he took.

“Glad you are awake,” he muttered, “here it is. The stone was easy enough to find, every other rock out there seems to be one. The band on the other hand seems a little odd. Is it supposed to be a bracelet?”

“Trust me,” I muttered glancing over at Eve who began to stir, “it will work. Thank you.”

“What was that?” Eve groaned as she stretched, careful to escape Vix’s tails without waking her.

Instead of answering I tried to stand up. My legs were a bit shaky, but I felt perfectly fine. “Can we go for a quick walk. I’ve been in bed for four days now.”

“Uh,” Eve said with raised eyebrows, “sure.” I took a few steps before I felt my back left knee buckle. Eve ran over and I leaned against her for support. “You don't look so good. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Let’s just go,” I muttered. We limped what felt like a good distance away before I spoke again. “Kegan told me last night that we can't keep custody of Vix unless we can for 100 percent keep her safe from Team Hatred.”

“What?” Eve nearly shouted.

“Shhhhh!” I hissed.

“I don't care! I’m going down there and I am giving Kegan a piece of my mind-” she ranted for a while. I was a bit shocked. I had never seen this “mama-bear” side of Eve before. I kinda liked it. “- and shove it so far up his…”

“Eve, calm down. We figured it out!” She immediately stopped talking. In an instant I felt all of that rage projected towards me.

“Are you about to do something stupid again because so help me if you make her cry again I will-”

“-Whoa, calm down. I promise this is a simple fix that will protect her but also still allow her to be a full member of our team.”

“What?” Eve snapped. “How do you plan on doing that?”

Over by my bed I could see Vix stirring. “By giving her her own Self Destruct move.”

Eve gave me a skeptical look. “Fine. So what?”

“Do you want me to tell her, or do you?”

Eve scowled at me, obviously still angry. “Oh no, buddy boy, this is your plan. You are explaining this!”

“Hey, guys!” Vix shouted across the room. “What is going on? What's in this bag?"

“Don't open it yet,” I called, “we’ll be over in a minute.”

We stumbled back over to my bed. It had only been a short walk, but I already felt a bit out of breath. I flopped back onto the bed.

“What is going on?” Vix asked.

This was either going to go extremely well, or she was going to kill me. Just saying. “So Kegan talked to me last night, and he told me that Eve and I can't keep taking care of you unless we can protect you from Team Hatred.”

“But-” Vix prompted.

“But, I think I came up with a solution.” I reached over and picked up the paper bag and handed it to Vix. She ripped open the top and pulled out a beautiful gold circle with a vibrant red and orange gem in it.

“I don't get it.” Vix admitted staring at the ring.

“That stone,” I said carefully, “is a Firestone. If you are touching it and you choose to, you can absorb it and you will evolve into a Ninetales. I have no clue what new powers will arise, but it will remove your ability to navigate Dungeons.”

“Oh, I get it.” Eve smiled.

“I don't,” Vix snapped.

“You wear it,” I explained, “and if something happens and the Hatred captures you, you can evolve. They won't be able to use you anymore and they will let you go.”

Vix stared at the ring for a moment before she slowly slipped it onto her right front leg. It immediately slipped off. “I think you measured this wrong.”

“Actually,” I said with an impish grin, “I sized it to go around one of your tails. I figured it would be easy enough to hide and a bit more comfortable for you. We can get it resized if you want.”

She tackled me with a hug, leaping between the beds. “I love it. Thank you.”

It was a rather uneventful day. The most we did was play a few games of Psychic basketball with two trash cans on either side of the ward, made even more complicated as Vix was constantly switching teams and batting the ball out of the air at random.

We only stopped when Candace came out screaming that we had to stop. Threatening to make Vix and Eve leave.

We calmed down and stopped. Eve ran out at one point and brought us all back food, even Buzz and Leo. The little guy woke up just long enough to eat before he slumped back into unconsciousness.

It got late, and eventually even nurse Blissey went home, turning the lights out as she left. Vix fell asleep curled against my back. I could feel the hard ring on her second tail digging into my back.

“We need to talk.” I nearly jumped. I could have sworn that Eve was asleep on the other bed. Apparently not.

“Okay,” I said softly, “let's talk.”

“Slink, what is your plan?” She said it calmly, as if she had simply asked about the weather. I shivered. I had been dreading this talk.

“What?” I asked trying to bide for time

“You know exactly what I mean,” she snapped. “You say you are only in this until we find the Dreamstone.”

“I am,” I said, but even I didn't believe me.

“You tell Vix all this stuff about being a family. About how we always have to be there for eachother! And you just plan on bailing once you get what you want!”

“I don't know.” I snapped back.

“You keep talking about how we need to stick together. Is that just crap? You nearly died for us, several times, but then you are going to bail on us just like that? Tell me Slink, what are you doing?”

“I don't know,” I nearly shouted. “Eve, I don't care what you think about me. But I truly do care about you, and I certainly care about Vix. But things are more complex than that.”

“How?”

“Eve, what happens after I find the Dreamstone? I bring my family back, and then what? Do I say to them, ‘Hey so I have these friends and this job halfway across the Continent so I’m going to leave you even though you just came back. So bye’?”

“No,” Eve admitted, “but you can’t just play around with us and then leave.”

“I’m not,” I argued, “I don’t know.” I shook my head and took a deep breath. “Eve, I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. I don’t know what will happen in a week. In a year who knows where we will be. Whatever happens, whatever might happen, whenever we may find the Dreamstone, trust me. I will never willingly do anything to hurt you or Vix. I would never purposely hurt either of you. You are my best friends. You are family. I love you, I love you both.” I shuddered, fighting back tears. “I know that this is hard Eve, I do. There isn’t a right answer. I can’t argue this.”

She was looking down. I knew she didn’t really want to look at me, but I needed her to. “So what do we do?”

I took a deep breath. “Forget about this? Lock this memory as deep within your mind as possible. We aren’t anywhere close to finding the Dreamstone. Can we just try and forget this problem, ignore it? Maybe by the time we face it again, we will have found a solution.”

Eve met my gaze. Her deep lavender eyes staring deep into mine. “Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away.”

“I know,” I sighed, “but it is the only solution I have. Are you with me?”

She laughed and shook her head. “If it keeps this team together, I will do anything.” She closed her eyes and focused her thoughts inward. I followed closely behind.

The box that I had stored my traumatic memories in was still in the back of my mind. I destroyed it with a thought. For what I had in mind, I’d need something sturdier. I created a gigantic, titanium box with reinforced edges. I carefully placed the dilemma I was facing within before I slammed the heavy lid shut and welded it shut with my brain. I prepared a Psychic lock so that nobody but me could unlock it before I heard a voice.

_Wait,_ it was Eve’s voice. I glanced around and sensed a pink energy, a mental probe. _Let me lock it. You lock mine. That way we can only return when we are both ready._

I nodded. Instead of focusing on my mind, I leapt over, digging a mental probe into Eve’s mind. I wriggled back until I found a large box, wrapped in chains and rope. I created a Psychic lock, a glowing orange padlock, sticking it onto the box. I created a key, also bright orange, and slipped it into the lock.

_On three okay?_

_One…_ I bit my lip.

_Two…_ I looked over my shoulder wondering if I was making a mistake. One of Eve’s memories caught my eye. It was me, suddenly appearing above from behind a stack of crates. I saw myself project a pink-purple dome over Vix, Buzz, and of course Eve. I saw my upper body enter the dome before there was a flash of bright light.

I knew that both Eve and Vix would trust me with their lives. Now it was my turn to trust them.

_Three…!_ I said turning the key and hearing a satisfying click. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. I couldn’t help but smile. Eve opened her eyes too and grinned back at me. There were plainly tears in her eyes.

“Hey, uh, there is still plenty of room over here. Come on. I don’t mind.” Eve blushed slightly, but she still got up and joined Vix and me on the bed. She curled up against my chest and purred softly. I used my powers to turn off my light.

I fell asleep happy that night, the two people I cared about most on either side of me. But before I finally drifted off, I saw Eve turn to look at me.

“The next time you tell me that you love me, do it when I’m awake.”


	7. Sierra

Three days later I left the hospital. Or at least I escaped it. Look, I had been bedridden for a week. I could not stand to be trapped there a moment longer. It didn't hurt to move anymore, and if anything happened Eve knew Morning Sun. What more could the hospital do for me? Nurse Blissey outright refused to let me go, so I escaped. Vix caused a distraction (she seemed awfully good at that) and Eve helped me slip out the door.

Naturally Eve argued with me about it, claiming that I needed to stay until I was fully healed, but I vehemently disagreed. I could not spend another day cooped up in bed, and despite everything I knew that Eve couldn't argue with that. I had seen her the last two days becoming antsy as she and Vix relaxed by my bedside.

“You know, you can leave. Nothing will happen to me, I’m in a hospital for crying out loud. You and Vix can go and do some jobs if you want.”

I hadn't even finished before Eve was shaking her head, and I was surprised when even Vix seemed to be reluctant to go.

“No,” Eve told me, “we aren't going anywhere unless the entire team goes.” She winked at me, “ How will we do anything without you acting like our human shield.” She grinned. “We aren’t going without you. End of discussion.”

So with the choice between help me escape, or go without me, Eve was suddenly very excited about the escape plan.

Of course with my luck, my escape didn't go unnoticed for long. Kegan appeared at our door the next morning looking as though he had been up all night and also like he had gone through a gauntlet to get to our door.

“Nurse Candice didn’t take too kindly to your little Houndoomini maneuver at the hospital yesterday,” he began as soon as I opened the door.

“Hello Kegan,” I said as he brushed past me into the apartment, “please come in.”

Eve took one look at him and hurried into the kitchen. “I’ll get a pot of coffee started.”

“Thanks,” Kegan said with a sigh slumping into a chair. “She knew you had left only a minute after you escaped. She told me, in great detail, how dangerous and reckless it is that you left before she could clear you and make sure you were healthy. She also told me that it is extremely selfish of you to put this danger and stress on your friends.”

Vix peeked her head over the back of the couch. “Does she know that I don’t care?” She immediately turned back to the TV.

Kegan gave a half-hearted chuckle. “So what?” I asked him. “Are you taking me back? Do I have to stay there until I am fully healed?”

Kegan shook his head. “I can’t force you to stay there, and even Candice couldn’t come up with a reason to bring you back, but she did have some instructions for you. To keep you from having a problem.”

Eve levitated him a steaming mug of coffee. He plucked it right out of the air and took a sip. “Slink, you and your team do good work. But so help me if you make her angry again…”

“Noted,” I muttered, “so what are these instructions?”

“She says that you have to take it easy for another two days. You can do whatever, but no adventuring and certainly no Mystery Dungeons over that time.”

“Okay,” I said rolling my eyes, but unfortunately I turned and found Eve watching me. For the record she didn’t look happy.

“Oh, no. I don’t care. You got out of the hospital, and I was okay with this, but you are _going_ to follow those instructions or I’ll send you back to the hospital with a real injury, got it!”

“Hey, we escaped because you didn’t want to do any jobs without me. This way we still aren’t doing any jobs for another couple of days,” I tried to reason.

“At least we won’t be stuck in the hospital for another few days. We aren’t arguing this. Understand?”

I shook my head, but I didn’t want to press this issue, especially not in front of Kegan or Vix. “So, Kegan did you have anything else that you needed to tell us?”

The Kedabra was taking a huge gulp of coffee. He sputtered for a moment before he spoke. “Er, um, yes. I did. It’s about your new friend.”

“Oh,” I said, “did something happen to Buzz? When we left he was fine, but did something happen?”

“No, no!” Kegan tried to backpedal. “I was talking about Leo.” The room became dead silent. “Did you three know that he was a part of the Hatred?”

All of us looked at each other. None of us said a word.

“Well?”

“We may have.” I mumbled.

Kegan buried his head in his hands. “You three are members of the Expedition Society. How could you bring a member of the most wanted team on the continent to Society HQ?”

Eve shook her head. “No, we didn’t. He used to be a part of the Hatred, he isn’t now. He risked his life to save us, and he needed our help. Leave him alone.”

“She’s right,” I added. “He told me that if I ever need any information, potentially on the Hatred, he would help me. I saved his son, he won’t betray me.”

Kegan gave us a wary look. He shook his head and sighed before draining his coffee and standing up. “Why do I even try to argue with you guys? Okay, see you back at work in two days.”

As he left I sighed and flopped down onto the three square inches of couch where Vix wasn’t. “So looks like this is our day.”

“Oh, quit moping,” Eve said rolling her eyes. “Come on, I’ll even cook dinner tonight. I’ll have to go to the market but…” she smirked at me, “would you like to come with me? It will get you out of the house.”

“Fine,” I grumbled standing up and grabbing my bag. “I might as well. I have to return all of those ‘Small Camp’ discs that we bought last week.”

“Vix you coming?” Eve asked before heading directly for the door, not waiting for an answer. Sure enough….

“NOPE, I’M GOOD,” Vix bellowed at the already closed door before turning back to whatever she was watching. Some sort of kid show she had gotten really into. I didn’t care. I simply shrugged and followed Eve out the door.

We passed by Mr. Gloom on our way out. We both politely waved before leaving through the front door. We walked down the street for a few minutes, both trapped in our own heads.

Finally Eve snapped. “Oh, quit pouting. This little vacation is to keep you safe. If you get hurt again you might hurt yourself permanently, and then what?!”

“Well if I have to stay here, at least you and Vix could go and do some jobs. It bothers me that we have done nothing for a whole week, and now we have to wait another two days. That hotel was expensive, we’ve eaten out a lot, and we still have to make rent!”

Eve laughed, she actually laughed. “Calm down. We aren’t as strapped for cash as you seem to think. Leo still paid us for the job we did.”

“Yeah, but-”

“And he seemed very grateful that you saved his son. He paid me while you were unconscious, and, well…” She opened her bag and tilted it towards me. Inside was a fat leather pouch bulging with P. “I counted it the other day. There is over 3,000P in there.”

“3,000?” I gasped. That is more than enough to pay rent for the month. “We can pay rent, and we still have 1,000P to spare.”

“Exactly,” Eve said putting the pouch back into the bag, “so you don’t have to be so uptight about doing a job every day. Besides, I figured that we could stop by the library. We can spend the next two days researching the Dreamstone.”

“Sure,” I said with a sigh. Did I want to find the Dreamstone? Of course. Did I want to do it on a day when we could be doing a job? No, just no.

Eve tossed me a smaller leather pouch. It was about half full of P. “That is around 800P. Meet me at HQ in half an hour. We can go to the library together.” I nodded and started for the Expedition half of the market while Eve made a beeline for the food side.

Kangaskhan's tent was in the exact same place that it was a week ago. I waited behind a Scizor patiently as he haggled a bit with Kangaskhan over the price of shop disks. He bought five, and then it was my turn.

“Well hello there again little Fennekin. How are you?” She said happily. Her baby was sleeping soundly in her pouch, so she kept her voice low. “I heard a rumor that you were in the hospital. What happened?”

I shrugged. “We had a run in with a stubborn Electrode. I was injured fighting it, and when it used Self Destruct I wasn’t ready.”

“Sorry to hear that, but it looks like you are better now hon. So sweety, what can I do for you today?”

I reached into my bag and dug out the pouch of discs. I searched inside until I had pulled out every small camp disc, even the one we had already used, and had them lined up on the counter. “Can I sell these back to you?” I asked. I needed to get rid of these before I could buy larger camps.

“Of course you can hon.” The Kangaskhan leaned over to look at the discs. She stopped at the one that I had already used. “Oh, except for that one sweety. I can only buy them back if they have never been used.”

“Just checking,” I said taking back the used one. “So, here is a question. Have you changed how you make small camps recently? I remember going camping with my dad and my sister a few years ago, and I know my dad used small camp discs. There used to be three tents in a small camp right?”

Kangaskhan nodded. “I don’t make them hon, I just sell them. I do know that whoever makes them changed them last year. You used to get three tents in a small camp, and you could use those discs six times. I honestly don’t know why they changed them, except for the money of course. So was that all for you today, or did you want to buy bigger campsites?”

“I’d like to buy three medium camps if that is alright. Oh, and one large,” I added hastily. I paused for a moment before I asked a question that I honestly should have asked before I left the shop a week ago. “How many tents and uses do you get from each of those?”

Kangaskhan chuckled softly. “The medium camp can be used four times, and it also has four tents. The large can be used eight times and has six tents. Was that all you needed today?”

“Yes,” I said, quickly passing her the P to complete my purchase. “Have a good day,” I said politely as I walked away.

“You too hon.” The Kangaskhan called after me.

Eve had taken the Expedition Gadget, so I had no idea what time it was, but I figured that I should head to HQ anyway. I had been waiting behind the Scizor for a while, and I had had a long conversation with Kangaskhan. If it hadn’t been a half hour yet, it was getting close.

Apparently I had timed it perfectly right because as I approached the HQs front doors, I saw Eve approaching from the opposite direction. We quickly fell into step beside one another and walked through the doors together.

Nobody was in the lobby, so we went straight back to the library. We passed by a few new recruits who were all reading glossy new books. I just managed to catch the title as a Croagunk passed by with the book under his arm.

“ _Mystery Dungeon Exploration for Dummies.”_ I whispered to Eve as soon as we were out of earshot. She glanced back just in time to see a Slowpoke take a bite out of his book.

“ _For Dummies?_ You don’t say.” I did everything I could not to burst out laughing as we worked our way down to ground level. Dimitri was behind his desk as usual, staring blankly into the blue glow of the Pokémon Nexus. As soon as we approached the desk he whipped around and regarded us with his one huge eye. It started purple, but as soon as he recognized us it turned bright yellow. He vaulted over his desk (much to Eve’s and my surprise) and grabbed us before we could move. He pulled us both into a bone crushing hug before he lifted me up and gave me a thorough once over. His eye had changed to a sickly yellowish-green color.

“He must have heard about your injury.” Eve said. Dimitri had settled her back onto the ground. “I guess he was worried about us.” The Trevenant’s eye turned purple as he nodded in agreement. He carefully set me back down before he looked between the two of us and pointed at the spot between us. His eye turned reddish-brown, the same color as Vix’s fur.

“You want to know where Vix is?” I guessed. I must have guessed right because he nodded and changed back to purple. “She didn’t want to come with us. She’s perfectly fine. You could probably kill me and she wouldn’t care.

Dimitri shook his head, but his eye turned yellow and I could sense that he was internally laughing. Eve laughed as well for a second before she got back to business. “So Dimitri, we wanted to do some more research. Can you get some books for us so we can take them home.”

Dimitri nodded, but he didn’t do anything. Instead he just looked at Eve quizzically. “He needs a subject to search,” I prompted.

“Oh,” she said, “silly me. Umm those same books about myths, legends, and legendaries should work.”

“Oh, and I’d like a book or two about rare crystals, and maybe one on strange types of stones. Also can we get some Expedition Journals about unknown phenomena during missions?”

Dimitri blinked a few times with the amount of subjects we were asking for. He straightened and closed his eye. When he opened it, it was once again the odd bright blue. It swirled around in the socket sickeningly as he apparently searched for the books we had asked for. He was in this trance-like state for much longer than ever before, but moments later he blinked again, returning his purple eye, before scuttling off into the stacks.

“He’s quite a character isn’t he?” I remarked to Eve who rolled her eyes and swatted me playfully with her tail.

“He was worried about you,” she chided with half a grin etched on her face. “Don’t make fun of him, he’s just a big sweetheart.”

“I know, and I’m flattered but-” I wasn’t able to finish my thought, because right at that moment, Dimitri came back to the desk balancing a huge stack of books in each hand. He placed them both on the floor in front of us with a small gesture that seemed to mean “there you go”.

I glanced between Eve and Dimitri before speaking. “Er, thanks. But we kinda wanted to take them home.” Dimitri nodded, obviously not seeing the problem. I reached for the stack of books and pulled one off of the top. I shoved it into my bag. I grabbed another and was barely able to stuff it into my bag. Eve only managed to fit three in her bag, but they were a bit smaller.

“So do we levitate the rest home?” Eve asked. She concentrated for a moment, the gem on her forehead blazing to life, before a thin pink nimbus surrounded the books. She lifted them carefully, but almost instantly lost control. The stack fell to the ground with a thud, and instantly tipped over onto the other stack until we just had a huge pile of books.

Dimitri carefully restacked the books before he ducked back behind the desk. He dug around for a second before pulling out what looked to be a giant, tan duffle bag. He set both stacks inside before carefully zipping it up and offering it to us. Thankfully it was much easier to deal with. Granted it took both of us to lift the surprisingly hefty bag, but it was much easier to lift just the bag rather than each individual book.

“Thanks Dimitri,” we called as we shuffled back through the library, the bag drifting along behind us like some strange parade balloon. Thankfully it wasn’t that hard to carry the bag, and before we knew it we were back in the lobby. As we approached we heard Kegan having a conversation with someone.

“I’m sorry, but the Expedition Society is not allowed to hand out the personal information of our members.”

A deeper voice responded. “Look, all we want to do is go by their apartment and say thank you and goodbye. Seriously, you can’t help us?”

“I’m sorry,” Kegan replied, “but they would have to give you their address themselves.”

We entered the lobby just in time to see Leo and Kegan (both equally frustrated) glaring daggers at each other over the desk. “So is there any way you can get in contact with them so we can get their address so that we can go say thank you and goodbye?”

“Umm,” Eve said glancing back and forth between both parties. “Can we be of assistance?”

“Slink? Eve?” Leo jumped at the sound of Eve’s voice. Buzz peered out from behind his father looking surprised. “We were just about to come see you. That is if we were allowed to find your apartment. Where is Vix?”

“Lost in the TV somewhere.” I said shaking my head. Buzz started laughing.

“I was just discharged from the hospital. So we are headed home. We just wanted to come by and say thank you.” Buzz said happily.

“Home?” Eve asked looking confused. I didn’t blame her. I wasn’t quite sure what had happened after I passed out, but from what I could tell Buzz and Leo’s home was still on fire and a Mystery Dungeon. They didn’t exactly have a home to go to.

“Well, relatively home. We have enough money that we can have another house built. We will probably head back to the same town and start construction. We do still have plenty of land that hasn’t been swallowed up by the Dungeon. You and your whole team are welcome any time, anytime at all. And Slink, my offer still stands. Just send a message with Pelipper and I will respond as soon as I get an answer.” Leo reached out and shook paws with both of us. “I can’t thank either of you enough for helping us out, or for saving my son. Goodbye you two. I expect great things from you both.”

“Thank you too,” I said feeling a bit awkward from all of the praise Leo was heaping on me.

“And if you ever want to come see us we live in the apartment complex just down the street in apartment 2F.” Eve added happily. “You guys are welcome anytime.”

They turned to go, but before they left Buzz broke away and tackled both Eve and me in a hug. “I want to be just like you when I grow up,” he whispered to both of us before he let go and ran to join his father. “Goodbye!” He called over his shoulder.

“Well that was unexpected,” I commented dryly. Eve laughed. “Okay, let's get this back up to the apartment. We can have lunch and then I guess we can get started.”

“I am getting kinda hungry,” Eve replied. Together we hefted the bag (which was much harder to carry through the crowded streets) and eventually we made it back to our building. Gloom seemed like he wanted to make a comment, but thought better of it as Eve and I maneuvered our massive bag through the front door. Getting it into the apartment was even harder, but we eventually managed to get the bag through the door. Vix poked her head over the couch to check what was happening. I saw her eyes go wide before she ducked back down.

After another ten minutes of wrestling with the huge duffel bag we managed to shove it into the room. As soon as we emerged Vix’s head popped up from behind the back of the couch. “Oh, hey guys. Did you need any help?”

“No we’re good.” Eve said rolling her eyes. I just stuck my tongue out at her. Lunch happened, we ate it, and then Eve and I retreated to our room to try and research the Dreamstone.

We pulled the duffel open and grabbed a few books that we wanted to start with. We retreated to our beds and pulled the books open and started reading. Let me say, for posterity's sake, the crystal and rock books were boring. Honestly I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting. I could list the properties of any Emera or name every species of Mega Stone, but I received no information on the crystal shard I had found or the Dreamstone.

From what I could tell, Eve was having similar luck. Although I think we actually got _useful_ information from her reading. The Dreamstone was not the nickname of some Legendary Pokémon. Although the book didn’t list half of the achievements of each Legendary. As far as I knew Zekrom could have gotten drunk one night and created the Dreamstone from his godly drool.

We took a break around four and Eve started on dinner. I offered to help, but she physically (or more accurately Psychically) removed me from the kitchen. “When it is your turn to cook, you can. Otherwise get the hell out of my kitchen!” I took the hint and got the hell out of her kitchen. Instead I flopped onto the couch next to Vix who was rapidly flipping through the channels.

“Ugh, there is nothing on!” she lamented throwing the remote down. She had settled on some sort of workout channel that was probably very popular with bipedal Pokémon. I honestly didn’t see the appeal, especially when it was physically impossible for me to do pull-ups, but I could easily put my foot behind my head unlike the Gallade who was struggling on the TV.

“Hey Vix, could I watch the news?” I was honestly a bit afraid of changing the channel without her permission.

Vix shrugged, stretching out. “I guess. There’s nothing else on.” Quickly I snatched up the remote and turned to channel nineteen just in time for Slowbro to start his weather report.

By the time the weather was over, dinner was ready. Eve had made pasta, and as this was Vix’s first time trying this particular dish we both kept an eye on her. We weren’t disappointed. The second she took a bite her face lit up, and as we are used to she proceeded to scarf down her dinner as fast as possible.

After dinner it was more of the same. Back to the bedroom. Back to research. But now we had a slight problem. Unfortunately our east facing window didn’t let in much natural light. I had a lamp right by my bed, but Eve had been reading by the sunlight streaming through the window by her bed. Now, she had the book extremely close to her face and was squinting as she tried to read.

“Eve,” I said making her look up from your book, “didn’t your mom tell you that you will strain your eyes doing that?”

Eve laughed and shook her head. “I guess not.”

I beckoned her with my head. “Come on over here. I’ll scoot over. I have plenty of light to spare.” It was funny. This whole thing should have been awkward especially with what I had said to Eve, and what she had responded to me with after she caught me saying it. But it had been a week, and nothing had really happened about it. Besides, we were only reading. Right?

Eve laughed and hopped up on my bed, levitating the books she was reading over. I couldn’t help but laugh inwardly. A week ago I wouldn’t have even considered laying in the same bed as Eve, even if we were only researching. It felt odd to me, how far we had come as friends. I had met this Espeon about a week and a half ago, and now she was helping me find what my dad had told me to find. I wasn’t allowed to work, and she had stayed home with me. It really was amazing how much she obviously cared, and how much I cared for her.

We kept on. Reading, researching. And slowly the hours slipped away. At around eight-thirty Vix poked her head in to tell us goodnight. She regarded my bed stacked high with books like some child’s attempt at a fort. “You guys really do a lot with your vacation days,” she snickered.

“And what did you do _all_ day?” Eve fired back without missing a beat. Vix simply scowled at her and immediately left the room.

“Goodnight!” I called after her. She slammed the door behind her.

We both decided to try and squeeze in just a bit more reading. Maybe we would actually find a lead tonight. But as the clock passed ten, I felt myself losing focus. I couldn’t concentrate on the book in front of me. I know I dozed off a few times before I finally threw in the towel. “I’m going to bed.” I told Eve closing the book I was reading and pushed it, and all of the other books on my side to the floor. “You staying up?” I asked her.

“Yeah,” she responded not even looking up from her book, “I think I’m on to something. I’ll go to bed in a few minutes.”

I shrugged and rolled over so my back was to her, and more importantly the light. I felt her shift as well, pressing her back up against mine. Perhaps it’s weird, but I felt more comfortable with her next to me. In no time at all I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I was awake much earlier than usual. I didn’t get up or open my eyes though. I was warm, I was cozy, and something was pressed up against my back. And it was breathing. I didn’t have to look. It was Eve.

I felt something else pressed into my spine. A book. Eve must have fallen asleep while reading. And honestly… I didn’t hate it. In fact I kinda liked it. It was warm and close. Everything that I had actually liked about that night in the tent. For a brief moment I considered rolling over and making it exactly like the night in the tent, but before I could I felt an awakening of Psychic power beside me as Eve began to stir.

“Hmmm,” she grumbled before I felt her freeze. “Slink, is that you?”

“Yeah,” I said quietly.

“I’m sorry,” she said glancing at me. “I must have fallen asleep before I knew it last night.” She seemed nervous, but she didn’t move. “I mean, I bet it wasn’t that big a deal. Not that I’m saying that you enjoyed it…”

She was babbling, and she still made no effort to get up. In that moment I did one of the bravest, most impulsive, and looking back probably the stupidest thing I have done in my life. I lunged forward catching her completely off guard. She flinched as I pressed my forehead to hers and nuzzled into her. I rubbed my forehead against hers, then down around the side of her head. I rubbed my cheek against hers for a moment before ducking down, scratching my forehead under her chin.

I pulled back so that our noses were just barely touching before I flicked my tongue out and licked the tip of her nose. Neither of us said a word. And neither of us mentioned it again for the rest of the day, but that night we slept right next to each other in the same bed.

And the night after that, and the night after that, and the night after that. Not once did it get awkward or weird. We didn’t let it. We were close enough by that point that we could sleep next to each other and it was perfectly fine. Once we got back to work and back on a schedule the days seemed to fly by, and then the weeks. Before I knew it, three months had gone by. Three months of living and working with Eve and Vix, and despite the ups and downs I treasured every minute. But despite how much time I spent with Eve, our relationship didn’t really go anywhere from there.

That is until one night when we decided to go out to eat after a rather stressful mission. Well “we” decided, because Vix was adamant, she was not going with us.

“I have been waiting for this episode for at least two weeks. The last thing I want to do is miss it!” The little fox was stretched out across our couch with the TV up full blast. She was watching some kind of animated show, where all of the legendary Pokémon had all of their powers switched around. I honestly didn't care.

“Come on Vix, I know you are hungry. Let’s go to dinner.” Eve glared at Vix, and I could almost see the little fox’s determination start to deteriorate.

It reappeared in an instant. “Then we can order a pizza and stay here. I’m not leaving!”

Eve opened her mouth to argue, but I jumped in. “Vix, you can stay.”

“But-” Eve tried to argue but I cut her off once again.

“She’ll be fine on her own for an hour, we can lock the door behind us, and we'll bring her back dinner. Is that okay?” I glanced at the two girls.

“Fine!” Eve conceded. Vix wasn't even paying attention anymore. She had turned back to the TV.

“Shall we go?” I asked with a grin. Eve scowled at me before turning to grab her bag. “It’ll be fun.”

“Oh, shut up,” Eve growled. “You think that we should regulate Vix’s TV time?” She asked once we were in the street.

“I don't think so,” I shrugged, “I bet it's the novelty of the thing. I assume we both grew up with a television, but she didn't. I think that if the obsession continues we should limit her time, but she seems fine for now. She still goes on jobs with us, so…”

“I guess so,” Eve replied as we walked in silence. She moved so we were walking side by side, our bodies pressed together. “So where do we want to eat?”

I tried to remember what restaurants we hadn't eaten at. There was that Club, definitely not. There was that fancy restaurant, so a no there as well. And then I remembered that Dive Bar on the south end of Festive Town. _Born In A Barn_ I think it was called. Worth a try.

“Really a bar?” Eve said skeptically when I told her.

“Yeah,” I said, “have you never been to one before? They have food there. Usually burgers and wings and stuff but, come on it’ll be fun.”

Eve gave me a small smile. “Sure why not.”

Just for the record, it was fun. Eve and I both had a burger. I had a pecha berry smoothie, and Eve got one with oran berries. The atmosphere was friendly, and the staff (strangely only Mankeys and Primeapes) were extremely friendly. At the end of the meal we ordered Vix a plate of six chicken wings. Three with spicy sauce, and three with sweet sauce. It was always fun to watch Vix try something new.

As we left, Eve jokingly leaned against me, making me have to carry her. She was laughing so hard that she was snorting. I couldn't help but laugh as well. We had had such a great time.

The sun had gone down while we were in the restaurant, so the streets were dark except for the occasional streetlight. At one point I tripped, sending Eve and me tumbling to the ground. We laid there in a heap, still giggling, staring up at the night sky together. I glanced at her, seeing the stars reflected in her deep, lilac eyes. Everything was perfect.

“Help! Please! Someone help me!”

I bolted back to my feet as the sounds echoed down the dark and mostly deserted streets of Festive town. There was silence for a moment, then…

“Please, I need help. Please, my daughter!”

Eve slowly got to her feet behind me. As we listened for the yells again.

“Sir, please I need help.”

But this time there was a reply.

“Get lost!” The voices were coming from an alley up ahead. Without taking a moment to think I charged down the street towards them.

“Oh, ma’am please! I need help my daughter-”

“I’m sorry, I can't. Maybe you can get help from the Expedition Society.”

“No I don't have time for that!”

I turned the corner just in time to see a dark, four-legged figure stumble away from an obviously concerned Hippopotas.

The dark figure turned towards me and charged, stumbling over himself. Instinctively I moved back, setting up a Psychic barrier between this creature and me.

He passed right through it as though it wasn't even there.

“Please, you have to help me!” the dark figure begged as he stumbled closer. I wasn't afraid, but I needed to know what and who this creature was before I could do anything.

I heard Eve shout behind me, but I couldn't make out any words. I was too focused on the creature in front of me. “Duck,” I commanded before I charged a small Flamethrower attack. Whoever this creature was ducked just as I sent a jet of Fire over his head, igniting a nearby trash can and its contents.

The flickering firelight revealed the creature. At first I didn't recognize what he was. I saw silky white fur, but it was matted and dirty, stained in several places by dirt and blood. Blue skin appeared frequently where patches of hair had either been ripped off or cut away. Deep red eyes, a lot like mine, peered out at me from what might have been a face, but it was so tangled in wild silver fur plastered down with blood from several oozing cuts that I couldn't be too sure.

The Absol was panting heavily, his leather-like tail beating the ground weakly. “Please, my daughter…” he gasped.

I moved slowly getting closer to him, Eve pressed close against me. “What happened?” I asked softly.

He shook his head. “We need to save my daughter!”

“Okay, okay,” I said trying to appease him, “we will, but first we’ve gotta back up.” He closed his eyes for a moment before he rolled onto his belly.

“Can we at least get your name?” Eve asked softly.

The Absol closed his eyes. “Sierra,” he breathed. He panted silently for a moment before his stomach started growling, violently. Without a second thought Eve pulled out the box of chicken wings and offered it to the exhausted and wounded Absol. He grunted gratefully as he ripped open the box and began tearing into the meat. All too soon he was finished, licking his lips for the last few morsels of food.

“Okay Sierra, now tell us what happened. From the beginning.” I stared at him as he sat there shaking his head.

“My daughter Abigail was kidnapped. We were just north of town, and we had stopped for a drink at this stream. And then all of a sudden we were ambushed! A gigantic Throh appeared and just grabbed her and started running! I chased after them, and they led me into a Mystery Dungeon. I found him in this empty room right by the portal, and he just laughed. Suddenly this Gurdurr appeared. I couldn't do anything. None of my attacks seemed to make a dent. I tried to go on, to push past them to get to Abigail. The last thing I remember was the Gurdurr charging up his Superpower. I tried to dodge, but he kicked me and then he brought his girder down on my head.”

Eve glanced at me looking horrified. I just stared at the Absol. How had he survived all that?

“They must have thought I was dead. Hell I felt that metal beam connect, I should be dead. I only woke up when the sun went down and I was purged from the Dungeon.”

I shook my head, a pit in my stomach. We had to help this man. There was no way we could ignore this. But something felt off to me. Something felt familiar. Had I heard this story before?

“Sierra,” I asked feeling butterfree fluttering in my stomach, “is there something, different, about Abigail?”

Eve shot me a dirty look, but Sierra just looked shocked. “How did you know?” he whispered to himself. He met my gaze for a moment. “Yes, Abigail is shiny.”

I closed my eyes, terrified of asking my next question. “And the Pokémon who attacked you? What color was the Throh?”

Sierra looked completely baffled. “He was an odd color now that you mention it. I think he was orange.”

My heart sank. I turned away from Sierra, not wanting him to see my expression of hopelessness. Eve simply hung her head, gasping in shock. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what we could do. “Why? What is the big beal here?” Sierra was nearly panicking. He struggled to get to his feet, leaning heavily on the wall. “Who has my daughter? What do you know?”

I shook my head. I didn’t know how I was going to break this to him. “You’re new to the Fire Continent aren’t you.”

“Yes, we are here visiting family,” Sierra said now more confused than panicked.

“Then you probably haven’t heard of Team Hatred. They are a terror group, an evil organization. They are made up entirely of shiny Pokémon.” I couldn’t say anymore. I didn’t have to. Sierra had already figured it out.

“What does this mean?” he said, his voice broken.

“It means that your daughter is long gone-” I tried to explain as carefully as possible, but Eve cut me off.

“Wait, Slink the sun is down!” she shouted.

“What?” Sierra and I both asked completely confused.

“It is night,” she repeated almost excitedly. “How powerful is that Dungeon you were in Sierra?”

I caught on instantly. “Eve, the Expedition gadget! Sierra, where exactly were you, and what time did you go into that Dungeon?”

“Whoa, whoa, what?” Sierra nearly shouted. But before I could answer Eve had pulled up the map on the Expedition Gadget.

“I can only find two Mystery Dungeons close to any stream north of town.” She neatly tossed the Gadget towards Sierra, using her power to levitate it just at eye level. “Which one?” Eve asked frantically. 

Sierra regarded the small glowing map. “Umm, that one,” he said pointing with the horn on his head. “Mountain Shadows.”

“How appropriate.” I mumbled to myself. Eve grabbed the Expedition Gadget once again and slammed her paw into the purple orb. The screen flickered for a few moments before lilac lines started crisscrossing the map. We waited, holding our breath until three lines intersected underneath the Dungeon Sierra had indicated.

“What does that mean?” Eve asked me, seemingly desperate for good news.

“Fifteen floors, at least,” I answered excitedly. This was potentially the greatest news I had heard all night. “Twenty at the most. There is a great chance that they are still there.”

Sierra looked like he was about to explode. “What are you talking about?”

I knew what I was about to say was the last thing that Sierra wanted to hear. “We will help you save your daughter, but first…” I glanced at Eve hoping she was on the same page, “... you need to eat, rest, and heal.”

“No,” Sierra protested, suddenly very angry, “I can’t do that. I’ve got to go help my daughter!” He tried to walk past us, but he was leaning so heavily against the wall for support that he couldn’t move.

“Sierra,” I said, “stop before you hurt yourself.” He didn’t listen. “We are still going to save your daughter. Sierra, think about it. It’s night!” The Absol froze as my words washed over him. “Even if we wanted to go, we can’t. The Dungeon is shifting.”

“But, Abby,” he tried to protest.

“But that also means that the Hatred has to be trapped in the Dungeon. They probably used discs to hunker down for the night. And the Dungeon is long enough that it should take them a while to get through it.” Sierra turned to look at me.

“What now? What do we do?”

“The third member of our team has a talent for navigating Mystery Dungeons. We can go home, go to bed. We will get up before sunrise, go into the Dungeon as early as we can, and then with Vix’s help we will catch up to them and rescue your daughter. Now come on, let's get you back to our place. Eve do you have any Oran berries?”

I came up on Sierra’s left side. “Here, lean on me.” Sierra looked skeptical, but he also knew that there was no way he could move without our help. Eve came up on his right before offering him the two blue berries that she had pulled from her bag. Once he had taken them, Eve tried to use her Psychic power to help hold him up, but he slipped through her grasp like he was made of smoke.

“Right, Dark Type. Forgot about that.” Instead she wrapped her long, prehensile tail just behind his forelegs and helped support him.

It was a complete struggle trying to get him back to our apartment. It took us nearly twenty minutes to get him up the stairs. As we watched him struggle, Eve and I shared a silent thought. We both knew that Pokémon heal faster in their sleep (a fact that Nurse Blissey told me every time she told me to take a nap - I ignored her of course) but would he heal enough by tomorrow morning to help us save his daughter?

I opened the door and went in first to prepare and brief Vix. As soon as I walked in she rolled off the couch and came directly over to me, rubbing against me like a needy cat. “Did somebody miss me?” I asked, more than a little concerned. Vix was never this affectionate. “You didn’t learn Attract and then accidently use it on yourself did you?”

Vix scowled at me. “No. You and Eve are an hour later than you said you would be. I’m hungry. What did you bring me for dinner?” That cleared things up. “Speaking of Eve, where is she?”

Before I could explain anything, Eve eased open the door and lead a limping Absol into the apartment.

“What is going on?” Vix shouted as Eve lead the almost feral looking Dark Type into the apartment. Sierra flopped onto the couch. He was completely weak and exhausted.

“Hey, Eve,” I called heading into the kitchen, “you mind explaining this one?” Eve glanced at me and I pointed at Vix. She nodded and began describing our crazy night. I was looking through our cupboards for berries. I didn’t have any Oran Berries in my bag, and Eve had given all of hers to Sierra. Thankfully we had a pretty good stock of berries, seeds, and a few extra discs just in case.

I rooted through the cabinet, grabbing any healing item that we had. A long string of Oran Berries floated over my shoulder as I levitated each one towards Sierra. In the back I found a pack of five reviver seeds. I split it open and pulled out two seeds, putting them aside. I placed another two in my bag, before I tossed the other one over my shoulder at Sierra.

“So, he got attacked by the Hatred, and they kidnapped his daughter. So we are going to get up early, so that I can lead you through a dungeon, so that we can catch the Hatred before they escape.” Vix surmised. She raised an eyebrow at me. “Aren’t you the one who is always saying that we should avoid the Hatred.”

“The two members that we know are there, Eve and I are strong against. You should also at least be effective against them.”

Over on the couch Sierra was slowly eating the Oran berries, slowly getting his strength back. “Slink seems really mature.” Sierra commented weakly.

“Yeah, he really is.” Eve replied.

“So, are Vix and him like siblings or...?”

“What?” Eve asked completely confused.

“Well, I was just thinking. He is a Fennekin and all so he must be about the same age as Vix.”

Eve shook her head. “Slink is a year older than me. He just never evolved.” 

“So we should probably go to bed,” I commented pretending like I hadn’t heard their conversation, “we have a big day tomorrow and we are going to have to get up early. Sierra, you can sleep in that room,” I said pointing at the right door.

“And Vix will sleep?” Vix protested.

“There are two beds in there,” I responded calmly.

Surprisingly Vix looked a bit nervous. She kneaded her paws on the ground and glanced at me pleadingly.

“Or,” I amended, “you could sleep in our room.”

Vix nearly sprinted for our room slamming the door behind her. “Well, looks like she is ready for bed,” Eve commented dryly.

“If you need anything, come get us or help yourself. We will wake you up before it is time to go.” Sierra nodded before he got up and headed for the right bedroom. Before he could disappear into the room Eve caught his tail.

“Please go to sleep. You can’t help your daughter if you are still hurt or exhausted.”

Sierra met her eyes. Bright lilac into red. He nodded before retreating to his room. A few moments later we headed for our room. Vix was sitting on the floor by the desk waiting for us.

“Good going Slink,” Vix snapped as soon as we entered, “you may trust the complete stranger you just met, but I don’t. I’m not sleeping in the same room as the maniac.”

“Sorry Vix,” I said crawling into bed. Eve climbed up next to me, her back to me, and lay down. I settled down and tried to relax. With what we had planned tomorrow, we needed to get to bed, and soon.

“Uhhh, no.” Vix said.

“What now?” I grumbled. I sat up. Vix was still sitting at the foot of our bed, giving me one of her hardest glares.

“You and Eve aren’t sleeping in the same bed with me in the room.”

“Vix, come on, just go to bed,” I groaned almost begging.

“You realize that we’ve been doing this for a couple months now,” Eve commented, her eyes still closed.

Vix shook her head, blushing slightly. “Look I don’t care. I don’t want to think of you two in the same bed.”

“Okay,” I said rolling to my feet, “what do you suggest?”

“I’ll sleep with Eve,” Vix commanded rather than suggested, “you get the other bed.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but I thought better of it and instead hopped off of the bed.

As soon as my feet hit the floor I walked over and rummaged through Eve’s bag, pulling out the Expedition Gadget. I tinkered for a bit before I figured out how to set an alarm. “Do you think that if we get up at four that will give us enough time to get to the Dungeon?”

Eve grunted in confirmation. I shrugged, set the alarm, and turned to climb into the other bed. I felt a slight twinge of jealousy as I watched Vix curl up into Eve’s stomach but it passed quickly. I settled down and tried to relax. “‘Night you two,” I mumbled as I began to drift off.

Neither of them heard me. They were both sound asleep.

* * *

I slept, but apparently not for long. All too soon the alarm went off, a high whining siren that would wake the dead.

I blearily rolled over and tried to tap the screen of the Expedition Gadget to get it to stop. Vix was far less patient. She pounced on the screaming device, immediately silencing it, and then batted it off of the desk. I wasn’t too worried, those things have to be mostly indestructible because of what Expedition Society Teams go through on a daily basis.

What I was worried about was what we were about to do. Were we ready to actually go after the Hatred? What if they captured Vix, or me? I shook my head. We could beat these guys. They were Fighting Types, we were Psychic. Mind over muscle, brain over brawn.

I tossed Eve my bag. “You get everything ready, and I will get Sierra up.” Vix had curled up once again on the bed and had closed her eyes. “We need to be out in fifteen minutes. Don’t go back to sleep.”

I left the room, quietly closing the door behind me. The apartment was almost pitch black, and the lack on any pre dawn light made me shiver. It was slightly cold without the sun shining in. I walked up to the other door and gathered my power to knock. Before I could, the door swung open.

“Hey, Sierra,” I said carefully, “it is time to go.” He nodded, before pushing past me. I hadn’t gotten the greatest look at him, but he still didn’t look fantastic. He could walk by himself, that was an improvement, but he still looked a bit haggard and his fur was still slightly matted.

“Sierra did you sleep last night?” I asked. He nodded, not looking at me, not speaking. “You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine,” he said calmly turning to meet my gaze. “I am mostly healed.” I wasn't quite sure if he was lying or not. “No matter how bad I look,” he said his red eyes seeming to glow in the darkness, “I am going with you to save my daughter.”

I leaned back slightly. “Whoa, I wasn’t going to say that. I was just asking how you are doing? But you still need to take it easy today. You are weak to these Fighting Types. Let me and Eve take them on.” Suddenly he dropped his gaze and refused to meet mine.

Before I could question him further, Eve emerged from our room dragging Vix behind her. “We’re ready when you are,” she said tossing my bag to me.

I caught it and slipped it over my head. I raised an eyebrow at Sierra. _You ready? You good?_ I tried to communicate.

He met my gaze once again and gave me a tiny nod.


	8. Abby

We were all lying in the grass as the sun peeked over the horizon. “Finally,” Vix cried out excitedly leaping to her feet, “oh, but thank you Slink for getting us up early to wait in a cold, damp field for an hour.” 

“Vix,” I scolded, “you know why we had to be here this early.” As the sun rose higher the sunlight projected along the ground, the sunbeams getting closer and closer to the Dungeon where the silver mist still swirled as the Dungeon shifted. “Besides this is always a sight to see.”

The encroaching sunlight made contact with the wall of silver mist that filled the entrance to the Dungeon. The mist immediately began to melt and hiss as errant sunbeams pierced it. As the sun rose higher the sunlight fully streamed into the mist seeming to light it from within while it continued to hiss like an angry snake. With a sudden pop the fog seemed to melt as it began to leak out of the Dungeon and dissipate.

We approached the now empty Mystery Dungeon entryway. As always, Vix went first passing through into the Dungeon. Eve, Sierra, and I waited for her response. Sierra leaned down and whispered to me. “So, you said she was gonna help us find my daughter, and you said she was a good navigator, so does she just guess really well or…”

“Just wait for it,” I whispered back.

Vix turned to face us and give her report. “There are sixteen floors, and I think the Hatred are still on floor four. I don’t think that they are close to the portal yet, but it should only take us a few minutes to clear this first floor.”

“Told ya,” I commented to Sierra as I brushed past him, following Vix into the Dungeon. Looking back, the expression on his face was priceless. He quickly snapped out of his shock and scrambled to follow after us.

As Vix estimated, we reached the portal in four minutes, and on the second floor we landed right next to the stairs, so we cleared it in no time at all. The third floor however Vix claimed would take us a while.

“Yeah, no matter how we go about this one we either hit traps, feral Pokemon, or streams that block the path, and since Slink and I can’t cross them…”

“That’s fine,” Eve commented sounding a bit frustrated.

“How are the Hatred doing?” I asked nervously. They couldn’t have been able to outpace us, but if they got lucky during the next few floors they could get a substantial lead.

Vix thought for a moment, almost listening to the Dungeon. “They are almost done with the fourth floor, but we should finish this floor by the time that they move on.”

Sierra let out an audible sigh of relief. “Okay, we need to get going. Now!”

Vix lead us out of the northern path and then stopped. “When I call out, everyone jump!”

“What?” Eve shouted, but Vix ignored her. Instead she charged forward, her head bowed like she was going to headbutt something. She skidded to a halt as the ground seemed to give slightly under her weight, sinking slightly.

“Now!” Vix shouted hitting the deck. There was a loud hissing sound followed by a rapid-fire series of loud pops. Sierra, Eve, and I jumped as high as we could, and good thing we did. A second later hundreds of tiny needles, all glowing with a dark purple light shot by.

Thankfully none of us were pricked. “Hey, Vix,” I called once I was sure we were all safe, “explaining deadly traps is a good thing. Can we get a bit more warning next time.”

Vix glanced back at me with wide-eyed glee. “That was awesome. There are at least three more traps between us and the portal. Let’s go!”

Sierra glanced at Eve, a look of horror on his face. “You guys do this everyday?”

“No,” she answered dryly, “some days we get attacked by blood-thirsty caterpillars, and nearly killed by sentient rocks.”

Even I wasn’t sure if she was kidding, and I had been on all of our adventures.

We encountered, as Vix predicted, three more traps. The first was an explosive trap that Vix disabled all on her own. She detonated it, and then used her Flash Fire ability to absorb the flames. She walked out completely unfazed and led us onward past the smoldering crater.

The second trap was a warp trap. Once again Vix took it on all by herself. She vanished in a flash of light. We all just stood there for a few minutes, not quite sure what to do next. A few minutes later we heard soft running footsteps before Vix turned the corner behind us. “Y’all ready? Let’s keep going.”

Eve and I simply rolled our eyes but Sierra looked a bit wary. “Does she have any sense of fear, or self-preservation, or anything?”

“No,” Eve said dismissively following after Vix.

“Not really,” I said with a shrug.

The final trap we were faced with was a wind trap, and unlike the other two Vix didn’t have a clever or quick way to bypass it. She explained that once it was activated, the trap would activate and create powerful gusts of wind that would be strong enough to keep us away. Since the path funneled into a tight corridor, Vix guessed that the source of the wind would keep us from actually following the path.

“Should we try and find another path?” Eve suggested. “If we can’t get through this trap, we are wasting time.”

Vix opened her mouth to respond before she flinched, an involuntary shiver passing through her body.

“What was that?” Sierra barked. “What do you know? What just happened?”

Eve shook her head. “Team Hatred has made it to the next floor,” she said, “but floor five looks pretty complicated. It should take them a while to get through.”

But Sierra wasn’t listening. “They are getting away,” he growled, “we need to hurry up!”

“Okay,” I said trying to placate him, “let Vix find a path where we can go around and-” 

“No,” Sierra said, “there isn’t time for that.” Without warning he bolted off toward where the pressure area for the trap was.

“Sierra!” Eve cried, instinctively reaching out with her Psychic to try and stop him, but he was a Dark Type. He slipped through her grip like water. We watched one of his paws strike the ground, we saw the earth seem to give way, and we saw dust begin to swirl as wind roared down the corridor. Sierra was thrown off his feet by the sudden roar of wind, and he landed with a dull thud behind us.

Eve, and I planted our feet and tried to brace ourselves, but the wind was too powerful, and eventually pushed us off our feet and dragged us across the ground. Vix hadn’t even stood a chance, and was currently lying in a heap beside Sierra.

“What do we do now!” I yelled to Eve. The wind was growing more powerful, strengthening to a scream. So that we weren’t forced any farther back, I created a pointed Psychic shield to deflect the wind around us.

Eve rolled to her feet and rushed up to my side. She used her power to shore up my shield. “What now?” she shouted. The wind was growing more and more powerful by the second, screaming as it rushed past us.

“The wind has to be coming from somewhere,” I yelled, “maybe we can find it and shut it down.” I closed my eyes and concentrated, sending out a tendril of Psychic energy. I felt Eve do the same beside me. Although the tentacles of concentrated thought weren’t physical, the wind still buffeted them as we forced them forward.

As the path funneled and narrowed the wind got stronger and it became much harder to push against it. Eve and I tried to catch each other if the other faltered, but still it was a huge relief when I felt my power touch the back wall. I rubbed along the wall until I felt a line of long slits, well I didn’t feel them. Anytime my power brushed up near one I was forced to redouble my efforts to stay near the wall because the wind was so powerful there.

“We have to block those holes,” I grunted through gritted teeth. Eve nodded.

“Rock Slide?” she squeaked.

I nodded. I reached up above the wall and grabbed exposed rocks, tree roots, literally anything I could get a grip on. I felt Eve do the same beside me.

“On three,” I panted. “One, two…”

“Three!” Eve shouted pulling as hard as she could. I used every ounce of mental energy to rip the very earth apart until suddenly a cascade of earth and soil crashed down, covering the stone wall and sealing the wind trap. The wind died, Eve and I dropped our shield, and immediately collapsed.

I felt physically and mentally drained. Thankfully the Hatred was at least two floors ahead of us, so we didn’t have to worry.

I struggled to my feet. Looking back I noticed that the rest of our team hadn’t moved. I could see Sierra staring at me, and I felt myself change from Psychic to Fire so quickly, the tufts of fur in my ears combusted from the sudden heat.

“Sierra! Get up!” I stomped over to him, a halo of Fire around my body. The Absol got shakily to his feet. He may have been older and bigger than me, but he shied away from me as I approached. I forced him to meet my eyes, and I stood there, staring him down.

Without breaking my gaze I called out, “Vix, you okay?”

There was a few moments of silence, but I heard Vix getting to her feet, so I wasn’t too concerned. “Yeah, I’m good-” she yelped as she tried to put weight on her front left paw.

Eve was on her feet in an instant. “Vix, what happened?”

“I landed on a rock,” Vix grumbled as she got back to her feet, clutching her injured paw to her chest. Eve gently eased Vix’s paw away with her prehensile tails and carefully examined it.

“I don’t think it is broken,” Eve grumbled, “but I don’t really have experience with this. We should have the nurse look at it when we get back. Until then…” Eve dug around in her bag before she pulled out a roll of bandages. She gingerly wrapped the paw tightly and tied the bandage off. “There, try putting weight on it.”

Vix slowly placed her paw on the ground, and thankfully the padded paw held her weight.

Once I was sure that Vix was okay I turned back to Sierra. “If Vix had been hurt,” I growled, “this mission would have been over. We would be back home, and you would still be here.”

“But-” Sierra protested but I immediately cut him off.

“You don’t get to speak,” I shouted, “you don’t get to say anything. This was all your fault. It would have been much faster to just find the other way around. Vix would get us there in an instant. Because of you we had to disable this trap, and now the way forward is sealed, wasting even more time.

“Sierra, you don’t understand that the rest of us want to save your daughter too. The Hatred have all screwed us over as well. But that doesn’t mean we should be reckless trying to catch them. They can’t navigate as well as Vix, and we have more than half the dungeon still to catch them! Hey Vix did they get any farther?”

“Umm, I think they are still on the fifth floor,” she said in a small voice. I ignored it for now.

“I’m not sure that we can trust you anymore,” I said angrily. I fumbled for a second, but I was quickly able to pull my badge off of my chest and I held it threateningly in my paw. “These badges are vital to Dungeon exploration, and they have an important teleportation function. If a teammate or a lost civilian needs to be quickly evacuated, all someone would need to do would be to tap them with their badge.” I waited for my words to sink in. Honestly it was all just big talk, I’m not sure how I could stop him, or how I could abandon Abigail.

“No,” Sierra said softly, “please I have to save my daughter.”

“Well I’m not sure you can listen to me. I’m not sure you will follow our plan. I don’t know if you will do something completely stupid when we try and save your daughter!” I glanced over at Vix. Perhaps I could kill two birds with one stone. “But I think I can trust you with one thing. When we fight the Hatred and recover your daughter, you are going to hang back with Vix and keep her safe.”

I turned away from Sierra angrily. “So where to next Vix?” I asked. I grimaced inwardly. My tone was a bit harsh, and I wasn’t sure how Vix would take that. I wasn’t mad at _her_.

“I’ll uh… just follow me,” Vix said quickly. She limped off, slower than before. Eve and I followed behind with a cowed Sierra behind us.

“Did I go to far?” I whispered to Eve.

“Well I wouldn’t have told him that we would have abandoned the mission.” Eve shrugged. “But I think you got your point across.”

“I wanted him to know how serious I was,” I said unapologetically. I paused for a moment. “Is Vix okay?”

Eve nodded. “I think you scared her, I know you scared me. I’ve never seen you that angry, Vix definitely hasn’t. I also think that she thinks you are mad at her, for her injury.”

“What? I’m not. Why would she think that?” I asked concerned.

“You said that Sierra has to protect her when we challenge Team Hatred. You made that Sierra’s punishment.”

I shook my head. “Fire isn’t weak, but it isn’t particularly strong against Fighting Types. Unless we absolutely need her, I don’t want her fighting, especially now with her injured foot.”

Eve nodded. “I didn’t want to say it.”

“I’ll talk to her. I’ll explain.”

“And Viola,” Vix chirped happily, “the portal. Suck it Hatred.” Without even a touch of ceremony, she stepped up to the stone platform and vanished. The rest of us followed a few moments later.

As soon as we landed on the next floor, Vix was primed and ready to go. “Hey, whoever has the Expedition Gadget should time me! I bet I can get us through this floor in exactly two minutes.” Eve laughed, but we all watched as she pulled out the Expedition Gadget.

“Ready? Set? Go!” Eve called starting the timer. Vix hobbled off into the Dungeon, leaving us to scramble behind her. I jogged up, eventually pulling even with Vix.

“Hey, you want to talk?” I asked.

Vix slowed slightly. “This isn’t going to be like the last ‘talk’ we had, right?”

I shook my head. “No I just wanted to ask how things were going.”

“I’m good,” Vix said.

“I mean when I started yelling at Sierra you looked a bit, er, perturbed?”

Vix raised an eyebrow at me. “Perturbed? Look it just startled me a little. I have never heard you yell like that.”

“Oh,” I said awkwardly, “Eve thought you might have thought that I was yelling at you.”

“Eve isn’t so good at the thinking thing is she?” Vix commented.

I playfully pushed her shoulder. “Don’t be mean. She was just worried about you and… your club foot there.” Vix rolled her eyes at me, but grinned. “I just wanted to make sure you aren't mad that I’m making you stay back.”

“I get it,” Vix shrugged, “you and Eve can take out those Fighting Types in a second. I’m not all that powerful here. And even I admit that I am not all that mobile with this thing.” She held up her bandaged paw. “This is a good plan.” She bit her lip. “Also, I wasn’t expecting you to stick up for me like that. My mother never really had reason to, and that Mightyena taught me that I should fight all my battles alone. I keep forgetting how determined you are to protect me.”

I started to answer, but at that second we turned a corner and lo and behold, there was the stone platform. Vix walked up to it and tapped her paw on it. “How’d I do Eve?” Vix called.

“A minute, fifty-eight seconds.” Eve called back.

Vix grinned back, but then she grimaced as her body was wracked with an involuntary shiver. “Let me guess,” I grumbled, “the Hatred is on to floor six?”

Vix shrugged. “Yeah, but the next floor won’t take us any time at all. We should have them. Floor six I know is saturated with traps, and it is rather complicated. We will certainly catch up.

“Do we have a plan?” Eve asked looking pointedly at me.

I shifted uncomfortably. I didn’t have a plan. “I mean, we outnumber them, and we outpower them. We should just knock them out.”

“No,” Sierra barked, butting in. I fixed him with a glare, and he took a short deep breath. “No, please! You can’t start fighting until we get Abigail out! If those Fighting Types see anything coming then they will hurt her. I am not going to let that happen!”

“Okay, okay.” I conceded.

“Well the Fighting Types are susceptible to Psychic suggestion right?” Eve asked.

“Sure,” I said not quite sure where she was going with this.

Eve nodded, “So we can sneak up on them, and then make them think that Abigail is still there. Then we can sneak her away and we can warp out. No harm, no foul.”

I glanced at Sierra who looked more than a little worried. “Can you guys really do that?”

“I think so,” I said, “don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

None of us talked much over the next floor. I don't know how Eve was feeling, but I had Butterfrees in my stomach. Here we were chasing after the Hatred. I knew that we had an advantage here, but I was still nervous.

Vix lead us to the portal in no time. We landed on the sixth floor, and almost instantly I felt something like a punch to the gut. I shivered involuntarily. This had happened the last time we had landed on a floor that the Hatred was on.

“Vix, where are they?” I whispered. I didn’t think the enemy was near, but I also didn’t want them to hear me.

“They are a few corridors away.” Vix whispered back. I guess the feeling was mutual.

“Is there a path that intersects theirs? A t-crossroads?” Eve asked.

Vix closed her eyes for a minute, and nodded. “We have five minutes before they get there. Let’s go!” She darted off into the path on the right, hobbling all the way.

We weren’t running exactly, but Vix kept the pace up as she twisted and turned through the maze like pathways. “Duck!” she called out at one point. All of us hit the dirt as a huge curved blade shot from the right wall, flew above our heads, and entered a matching slot on the opposite wall. Vix continued on like nothing had happened.

Finally, just before we reached a wide crossroads, Vix stopped, fanning out her tails as a barrier to stop us. “Shhh, they’ll pass by in a minute,” she hissed.

“Okay,” I breathed, “you two wait here. We will slip Abigail out, and meet you back here.” I hesitated for a second. “Vix, give Sierra your badge.”

“What?” Vix and Sierra both looked at me like I was crazy.

“If this goes sideways, I want you both to be safe.” I fixed Sierra with a deathly-serious glare. My red eyes flared slightly. “If anything goes wrong, do what I told you. Tap Vix with the badge, and then briefly press it once to get yourself to safety. Get _her_ out if things go wrong.”

He nodded carefully. “I promise,” he muttered, but he seemed hesitant, hesitant and angry.

“Sierra,” I muttered, “I promise I will not leave here without your daughter.”

The Absol opened his mouth to speak but at that moment we heard heavy footsteps headed our way. “Places everyone,” Eve hissed, “here we go.”

Sierra and Vix backed slowly down the passageway, while Eve and I pressed ourselves in against the inside wall. “Project an empty passageway across here,” I whispered, “I’ll make the one in back oblivious.”

Eve nodded as her gem began to glow brighter and brighter. For a moment I thought that the glow would alert the Hatred to our presence before the glow solidified into a wall of pink energy. Most of the glow faded revealing a perfect mirror image of the passage behind us. Eve grimaced as she was forced to sustain the connection. “Hurry,” she grunted.

I reached out with my own mind towards the sound of marching feet. Eventually I came across a duo of minds, one with a heavy blood-red tint following a thickset pinkish-white mind. Between them was a large empty space, and I nearly panicked before I remembered that Abigail was a Dark Type, and so I shouldn't be able to detect her with my mind.

As the figures got closer my Psychic probe drew closer to the redish mind in the back. The Throh I assumed. Until finally I felt myself intersect his mind. I tried to keep my probe as small and insignificant as possible, so he wouldn't sense me as I quickly burrowed my way inside to the part of the brain that is connected to the eyes.

I could see everything that he saw. The narrow path around him, the Gurdurr in front of him, and the frightened Absol with bright red skin and fur directly between them. He blinked, and faster that I thought possible, I acted. With a quick movement I severed the connection from his eyes into his brain. I replaced it with the Psychic probe and immediately conjured exactly what he expected to see.

I held my breath for a moment as the Throh opened his eyes. Nothing. No shout of alarm, no suspicion. Our plan had worked. Suddenly a tall, bulky shadow crossed through Eve’s illusion as the Gurdurr passed by. Eve and I waited a second until a lithe figure passed by. We shared a quick glance before we both leapt through the illusion just before the Throh crashed by.

We both saw the Absol seize up as soon as we landed. “I’ll get Abigail, you distract the Gurdurr,” I breathed to Eve as I lunged forward, nearly tackling Abigail, and throwing one of my paws over her mouth. Abigail let out a tiny squeak as she felt my weight settle on her back. I glanced up at the Gurdurr who didn't even turn around.

“Quiet back there!” he barked, not even missing a beat.

I could feel Abigail trembling beneath my grip. Of course she was. She had to have been terrified, considering what she had gone through in the last couple of days. “Shhh,” I whispered trying to sound as reassuring as I could, “your father sent us. We are here to rescue you. If you shout out, we might get caught. Understand?” Abigail nodded slowly.

I slid off her back, peeling my paw off of her muzzle in the process. “I’m Slink, and my teammate Eve is behind us,” I breathed into Abigail’s ear. “I have the Throh blind to what we are doing, and Eve is working on the Gurdurr. The next side path we come across, we will all duck into quickly, and we can all warp out of here together. Okay?” I wanted to simply warp out now, but with how quickly the Throh and the Gurdurr had us moving I was afraid of accidentally dropping my badge stranding both myself and Abigail here. It would be much safer to duck out and use our badges later.

The young Absol still looked scared out of her mind, but she nodded slowly. “My dad is here? Thank you, thank you so much!” Her voice was a bit raspy, and a bit deeper than I expected. I wondered when the last time she had had water had been. As quietly as I could, I dug my canteen out of my bag and offered it to the Absol. She took it in her mouth and began to gulp the water down. “Thanks,” she said sheepishly handing me the now empty canteen. As I put it back I pulled out an apple and offered it to her. I tried to explain the rest of the plan as she clumsily ate with only her mouth and one paw.

“Your dad and the third member of our team are following us, and will help get you out of here.”

Abigail seemed to relax at that thought, but she quickly tensed up again. “What about the other two Shiny Pokémon?” My heart skipped a beat, and I felt it sink in my chest.

“What two Shiny Pokémon,” I asked desperately even though I already knew the answer.

Abigail was about to answer, when Eve gently bit my tail. I glanced back at her, and she gestured with her head to the side. I turned my attention back to the front and saw a small path leading off to the side of the main path we were following. “Okay Abigail,” I whispered nervously, “on three we break right okay? One, two, three-”

Before we could make our move, the Gurdurr in front of us suddenly stopped. Abigail and I nearly ran into him, but managed to stop just in time. Then a sickly familiar voice turned my blood to ice.

“Finally Crash. It took you two long enough to get here. I told you which direction to go!” I felt Eve tense beside me, as we unconsciously tried to hide ourselves behind Abigail. “We’ve been waiting for almost fifteen minutes you idiots, and you know Smoke doesn't like to be kept waiting.”

I shivered slightly. It took real courage for a Dark Type to talk to a pair of Fighting Types like that. I frantically tried to think of a plan. I had some tunneling wands in my bag, but we would be seen for sure if we tried that. I knew we had to get out of there quickly before…

“Seriously, it shouldn't have taken you this long to get here, especially with that prisoner! But I guess I’m being a bit harsh, especially with the extra passengers you picked up.” The fur at the nape of my neck stood on end as Shane paused. I felt his gaze come to rest on me. “I didn't think you two had it in you to bring me Eve and Slink.”

I didn’t hesitate for a second. I gathered every ounce of Psychic power I had. My eyes began to glow pink, and the the fur in my ears waved like they were caught in a hurricane. I turned on my heels and sent all of the power in a concentrated shot directly at the Throh behind me. It struck him in the chest, throwing the Fighter back fifteen feet at least. He lay on the ground motionless. “Run!” I screamed.

Thankfully the Gurdurr was still somewhat under Eve’s power, and Shane wasn’t close enough to do anything. Eve instantly took off down the corridor. Abigail on the other hand was frozen from fear. “Abigail, move!” I shouted slamming into her side. Thankfully that got her moving. The three of us sprinted full tilt down the narrow corridor, leaping over the motionless Throh. 

“Eve, get out of here!” I shouted, “I will get Abigail out when I can. You need to get out now.”

“I won’t leave until you do.” Eve shouted back. She was stubborn sometimes.

We reached the crossroads where we had found Abigail, and we all turned into the side path. “Did Vix and Sierra leave already?” I asked fumbling with my badge, trying to take it off of my chest so I could send Abigail out of the Dungeon.

Eve was tensed and ready to go whenever I was ready. “No, idea,” she panted. Then her ears perked up. I had heard it too. Thundering footsteps. I left my badge on my chest where it was, and we started running again. We had to get some space between them and us so we can escape.

We ran as fast as we could, leaping down side paths, dodging as many traps as we could. I was struck with a sudden appreciation for Vix. We would have been out of here having lunch if she was around.

Eventually we found ourselves in a large circular clearing with our path running in, and only a single other path leading out.

“Slink,” Eve panted, “is that what I think it is.” I followed her gaze, and my heart leapt. The stone platform! The path on the other side of the clearing had the portal to the next floor at its entrance.\

This was perfect. If we could get to the next floor, we would have plenty of time to escape. I could have kissed Eve, but Abigail was there, and we didn't have time to waste.

We nearly ran across the clearing with Abigail right on our heels when a dark figure jumped over the walls of the clearing, blocking our path. The figure’s skin was pitch black except for white patches on its elbows and knees. Two dark-blue fins crested its head, and its blood-red tongue was wrapped around its throat like a scarf. The shiny Greninja regarded us calmly and confidently. It knew that we couldn't fight it. We were done.

I reached for my badge, perhaps I could throw it at Abigail and maybe it would warp us out, but I had barely moved when a shadow ball crashed into the ground on my left, and a water pulse slammed the ground on my right. The Greninja, Smoke I remembered, stood at the ready. A shadow ball in one hand, and a water sharrukin in the other. I quickly pulled my paw from my badge.

“Eve, run. Get out if you can.” The Greninja didn't even turn to watch her. His gaze was fixed on me. There was something about his gaze. I could physically feel it on me. The pure malice he exuded burning me.

“Why are you so determined to martyr yourself?” Eve grumbled. “We are in this together!”

“They only want me.” I said calmly. “They would probably let you go, and maybe Abigail too if they got me in exchange.” I turned to Smoke who only blinked.

Soon enough we heard pounding footsteps in the corridor behind us. Shane strutted through the entrance, looking rather pleased. The Gurdurr followed behind him. The Throh was nowhere to be found. I felt a slight twinge of guilt. I must've really hurt him.

“How are my two favorite Expedition Society members doing?” Shane asked as he walked up to us. I wanted to tear him apart, but I didn't dare to do anything with the twitchy Smoke staring me down. “I was surprised to see you two. This was only a routine recruiting mission. I didn't think you would be stupid enough to come. I don't even know how you found out where we were. Stanley here,” he motioned to the Gurdurr, “said that he killed the other Absol himself.”

Abigail tensed beside me. “But…” she protested weakly, but she couldn't find anything to say.

“Oh,” Shane cooed soothingly, “did these two not mention that? Sorry to disappoint you, Abby was it?”

Even without my Psychic connection I could feel Abigail’s anger grow beside me. I leaned as close as I dared to her. “Tell me when,” I breathed.

“And Slink,” Shane cooed. He walked right by me, and if Smoke hadn’t been ready to kill me, I would have destroyed the Umbreon. Suddenly he slapped me across the face, claws unsheathed, just missing my eye. I felt two cuts open up on my nose as I reeled back in pain. “That’s for last time,” the Umbreon snarled, slapping me in the face with his tail as he turned around.

“Stanley, grab the Absol. Smoke has the Fennekin under control-” he never finished his sentence. Without warning a burst of shadow exploded out from Abigail. Shane turned just in time for the dark pulse to slam into his chest, slamming him backwards into the wall. Smoke was just barely able to get his guard up in time, leaping swiftly over the attack, he wasn’t prepared for the next one.

I had been ready, and when Abigail had attacked, I had started channeling my rage. As soon as Smoke hit the ground I sent a Flamethrower at him. He threw up his arms, trying to block the stream of Fire. I knew I couldn’t do much damage to him, but I could stall for time. Maybe open a chance for us to escape.

The Greninja countered with a Water Gun attack. He spit out a steady stream of Water that instantly turned to steam as it met my jet of Flame. He got what he what he wanted though. The Water pushed the Flames back far enough that the Greninja was able to roll aside. I choked back my Flames, leaping aside as he retaliated with a wall of crystal clear Water.

I needed to distract him for longer, but I had a plan. I danced aside as he threw a shadow ball at me. I pursed my lips concentrating my power. A tiny Flame flickered to life on my tongue, about the same size as a candle. I rolled aside as a Water Sherukkin buzzed by my ear at high speed. I started to exhale slowly and carefully, the flickering Flame lengthening into a rope of Fire. The little tongue of Fire reached out and as it got closer to Smoke it began to curl in around itself, around his feet. The rope got thicker, the Fire got hotter, and the Flame curled around him faster and faster, the Inferno climbing higher and higher. Soon Smoke was consumed by the flaming tornado.

I felt a huge burst of Psychic power behind me. I turned to find Eve fending off the Gurdurr, while Abigail did everything she could to keep Shane away from them. As I watched Eve froze, the gem in her forehead blazed to life, growing brighter as she gathered energy. Eventually it looked like Eve had a miniature sun on her head. There was a loud pop, and in an instant the light faded away completely. The Gurdurr took this as an opening, swinging his giant I-beam, slamming it into the ground. Thankfully Eve was pretty agile, and managed to dodge every attack. But everyone gets lucky. The Gurdurr swiped upward with his heavy metal staff, and unfortunately Eve couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. The girder caught her in her leg, and she crashed to the ground. The Gurdurr raised his metal I-beam, ready to take her out when Eve’s move finally took effect.

Before Stanley could strike he was engulfed in a bright white ball of Psychic energy. He cried out as the huge amount of power pressed in on him. As the light faded the large Pokemon fell to his knees, still just barely conscious. My eyes flashed pink for a moment as I sent a bolt of power directly into the ground. It exploded out of the ground only feet from the Gurdurr. A halo of tiny rock shards hung suspended in the air before they all flared purple and shot, at high speed, into his body. He was probably happy to lose touch with the world as he slumped to the ground.

“Enough!” Shane shouted sending out a Dark Pulse that caught Abigail under her chin slamming her into the ground. I heard a sickening crack as her head hit a rock. Her eyes rolled up into her head as she blacked out. I tried to get to her, but a shadow ball crashed into my chest. The sudden wave of Darkness made my knees buckle as it sapped my strength. Eve received the same treatment, except she was struck in the stomach. She curled up on the ground clutching her belly.

Shane limped up to Abigail’s limp form. I tried to rise, but I couldn’t. I was still trying to recover my energy as it was sapped away by the shadows. As Shane got closer I noticed flickers, almost whispers of purple and black flames around him. “You should have joined us when you had the chance.” he growled at Abigail. He raised his paw, claws extended, aiming for the throat. I hurled myself as close as I could, trying to do anything to stop what I knew what was about to happen, but I collapsed still far from the two.

Shane slashed just as a bright blue glow appeared around Abigail. She vanished with a soft pop, leaving a small circular silver badge on the ground. A new deeper voice spoke up, dangerously quiet. “Stay the hell away from my daughter.”

Sierra charged a night-slash in his horn, and struck Shane across the chest. He then turned around and slammed his tail (also charged with a night-slash) right into the cut that he had previously created. Shane stumbled back from the impact, and right as he recovered his back left foot landed on the stone platform. Shane’s eyes widened in shock, just before he vanished. Sierra watched the platform for a moment, making sure that Shane wasn’t coming back before he rushed over to me. He carefully helped me to my feet.

“Thanks for trying to protect my daughter, “ Sierra grumbled as he helped me up.

“Thanks for taking care of Vix,” I replied, groggily. Eve was back on her feet too, and she obviously hadn’t managed that alone. Vix was supporting her, using several of her tails as a makeshift sling.

I glared daggers at Sierra who shook his head. “I tried to send her out, the problem was catching her.”

I nodded, resigned that Vix was just going to ignore me whenever I tried to keep her safe. I stepped forward to check on Eve when my paw landed in a rather large puddle of Water. My heart stopped as clarity rushed back into my head. My Fire spin was gone, nothing remained of it but a circle of scorched earth, but more importantly so was the Greninja that had been trapped inside.

Where had he gone? Had he left? Had he followed Shane to the next floor? Or was he still here, just about to attack-?

“Slink, look out,” Vix shouted leaping back. I tried to turn, to see what was happening, but I only managed to register a flash of blue light before Eve slammed into me, knocking me aside.

I heard Eve grunt, I heard the solid _whump_ of an attack landing. I turned back to see Eve standing where I had been, with a Water sharrukin sticking out of her chest. The blade dissolved almost instantly, turning back to a liquid and splashing to the ground, but that was nothing compared to the splash of red that followed after it. Eve collapsed into the puddle below her.

“EVE!” I don’t remember screaming. I don’t remember moving at all, but before I knew it I was at her side, my throat raw. I didn’t know what to do, except get Eve to the hospital as quickly as possible.

Vix was at my side a moment later. “Eve,” she cried, “oh, no. Eve, come on!” The little fox was at the verge of panic (just like me) but we couldn’t both break down. I tried to remain calm for her sake.

“Vix, where did Smoke go?” I asked, anger and panic shining through what I had meant to be a calm tone.

“I don’t know. Sierra shot a shadow ball at him, and he vanished into the Dungeon.” Good. He was gone. Otherwise I would have killed him.

“Find your badge, and get Sierra and yourself out.” I commanded leaving no room for any argument. I need to get Eve to the hospital.” I reached out and pressed my paw to Eve’s badge. She vanished in a flash of blue light.

“She’s gonna be okay right?” Vix asked. I didn’t answer, I couldn’t. I could only press my badge and leave.

I blinked away the spots in my eyes as I landed next to Eve. I could still hear her breathing, but it was becoming more ragged and shallow by the minute. I rushed to her and immediately ran into a dead end. How was I going to get her upstairs to the hospital?

I siphoned up the last tiny bit of Psychic energy I had, and used it to lift Eve onto my back. We were about the same size, I was just slightly taller than her, and I know she weighed less than me, but in my weakened state it was a miracle that I could even lift her. I trudged forward, feeling Eve grunt with every step I took. I could feel a wet, stickiness on my back grow with every step, and I knew we were leaving one heck of a trail. I stumbled over the still unconscious Abigail. “Help!” I screamed. “Please, someone, we need help!” I tried to send out a Psychic plea, anything, but I was simply too exhausted.

Arceus must have taken mercy on me, or decided that I was worth a miracle, because a moment later I felt a strong Psychic presence beside me. The air began to hum with pink energy, congregating together in what was undoubtedly a bipedal shape. Suddenly Kegan appeared, blinking as he recovered.

“Slink,” he asked, “what's going on? I was trying to write a report on- OH Arceus!” He shouted upon seeing the grievously wounded Eve on my back. Without a second thought he reached out and grabbed my by the scruff of my neck. I felt an odd tingling sensation pass over my body, before my vision was filled with pink Psychic energy.

Without warning the ground seemed to pitch underneath me. In an instant I felt my paws leave the ground. I completely rolled in midair before my paws slammed into a new hard surface. Thankfully I remembered these stone floors. We were in the hospital.

Kegan carefully set Eve down on one of the beds (I was so exhausted that I hadn't even noticed him pick her up) and then vanished once again using his teleport move. I danced in place for a second, shuffling my paws impatiently. I hated this hopeless feeling. There was nothing I could do to help!

Thirty seconds later Kegan was back, and Candice was with him. She took one look at Eve, and then turned to Kegan. “I need Oran serum.” She said calmly. “Get five, just in case.” Kegan vanished again, and when he returned he was holding five syringes, each containing a thick, blue syrup.

Candice instantly snatched one up, stuck the needle into Eve’s chest just below the wound and sent the blue goo into her bloodstream. Blissey carefully set the now empty syringe on the table next to Eve’s bed. “Bandages,” Candice spat without even looking up. Kegan must have been used to this because he had already teleported away. He returned an instant later with several rolls of thick, white bandages.

I watched, holding my breath, but the wound on Eve’s chest wasn't getting any smaller. “What's happening?” I nearly shouted. “You said that stuff had Oran in it. Shouldn't it heal her?”

“She's losing blood too fast. All of the healing power of the Oran is being used replenishing the blood she is losing.” As if to prove her point, she plucked up the second syringe and injected it into Eve.

“How did this even happen?!” Kegan asked. “You guys never signed in for a job through the Nexus.”

I shook my head. “It was off the books. An Absol came to us last night. Told us that Fighting Types had taken his daughter. We thought we could help. Then Team Hatred ambushed us. The daughter was shiny, they wanted her too.” I knew I needed to tell the truth, but Kegan would be much less sympathetic if he knew that we were aware that Team Hatred would be there. “Eve took a Water sharrukin to the chest. It was meant for me.”

Kegan shook his head while the nurse emptied another vial of Oran serum into Eve. The Espeon now had bandages and gauze wrapped tightly across her chest, but they were being quickly soaked through.

“Uggh,” the Blissey grumbled, “they must have severed an artery. We are going to have to operate. Kegan, I’m going to need at least two bags of Espeon blood from the emergency blood bank.”

Kegan was gone for much longer this time. Long enough that Candice had had to use the fourth vial of Oran serum. She also tossed me a small patch of gauze. “For your nose,” she specified. Kegan returned a few moments later, only he was empty handed.

“We don't have any Espeon blood.” Kegan said, trying to keep his voice calm.

“What?” Candice snapped, a hint of nervousness sliding into her voice for the first time. “What do you mean we are out?”

“We are out of Psychic blood. Remember that fiasco with that Munna last year?”

“What about Ditto blood?” The nurse asked.

“You know how rare Dittos are here. We only had one bag, and we used that two years ago.”

My fear had been growing, along with a feeling of rage. I tried to come up with a plan, but I had no idea. I barely even noticed when a strange warmth sprouted in my chest.

“Slink!” Kegan barked. I guess I hadn't realized it, but I had let my powers slide from my control. Everything within ten feet from me had been shoved backwards in a perfect circle. I could feel the power rushing out from me like a high wind. Kegan could barely keep his footing. Quickly I stopped the wind, and Kegan stumbled forward.

“Slink, If you can't keep yourself under control I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Rational thought left me for a moment at that point. The next thing I knew I had him held off the ground in my Psychic grip, holding him against the wall.

“How can you not have restocked your blood bank in two years?!” I screamed.

“Slink, please calm down.” Candice said calmly. “There aren't that many Psychic Types out there, and not many were willing to donate blood.”

“Can you take some of Kegan’s blood,” I cried desperately.

The Blissey shook her head. “You don't know how blood typing works do you? Yes typing is a factor, but the body type is also extremely important. Eve can only get blood from a quadruped Psychic Type. And there aren't many of those.”

I felt my heart sink. Was there nothing we could do? I let Kegan down again, before a thought struck me. “Fine, use me! I have four legs and am Psychic! Use my blood.”

“Yes,” Kegan said rubbing his neck, “but you are also a Fire Type.”

“So!” I nearly shouted.

“So only half of your blood is Psychic. The other half is Fire and if we give her Fire blood, she will die! Usually for dual Types like you the split is literally fifty-fifty with half of your body being each. Do you know which side of your body is the Psychic side?”

Candice injected the last syringe of Oran serum into Eve. “We need to figure something out quickly. I guess I could try to operate without any blood, but that will have negative consequences.”

“Like what?” I begged.

“At best, she will probably lose a leg, and maybe her tail. At worst…” the nurse shook her head.

“So our options are, use my blood and there is a fifty-fifty chance of her dying, or we do nothing and she ends up crippled or dead.” I glanced between the two adults hoping one of them had a suggestion. Nothing.

“You are the oldest,” Kegan finally said, “you are the one who has to make this decision.”

I didn't know. What would happen if we chose the wrong side of my body? What if I chose to play it safe, but Eve never walked again? I knew which one I would want her to pick if our roles were reversed. I had her fate in my hands, and I knew there was only one answer that would work.

“Use me. Let's risk it. Use my blood.”

“Hop up!” Candice commanded pointing to the next bed. “I will have to put you to sleep before I can draw any blood.”

I hopped up on the bed and tried to get comfortable. It wasn't easy considering my stomach seemed to be actively trying to eat itself, and my heart seemed determined to escape my chest.

“What side?” Candice asked me. Fear rose up like bile in my throat, while my mind tried to rationalize, logic my way through things. The strange warmth blossomed in my chest again. Then, almost as if it had a mind of its own, I felt it almost slide to the right within my heart before fading away as quickly as it appeared.

Should I trust it? I gave a grim chuckle in my mind. Did I really have a choice? “Right,” I whispered, fully aware of the weight of the word as it left my mouth.

Candice nodded, before she tenderly placed her palm on my head. “If this goes wrong,” Candice said with a shuddering sigh, “please don't blame yourself.”

She took a step back, took a deep breath before she began to sing. Instead of warbling notes like her normal voice, this was the strange, magical type of song that only a move could provide. Despite the situation I felt each note dig into my muscles, easing the tension and relaxing me. My earlier exhaustion washed over me, supplemented now by the magical fatigue from the song. I sighed in relief as my mind went blank and I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I don't know how much later it was when I woke up. I felt groggy, dizzy, light headed. There was a bandage tightly wound around the crook of my front right leg. That must have been where Candice had taken blood from me. She must have also taken advantage of me being unconscious to take care of a few other injuries. There was a smaller bandage across my nose where Shane had cut me. The fur on my chest felt matted and sticky from some sort of ointment that Candice had put where the shadow ball had struck. By contrast, the fur on my back felt soft and clean. Candice must have washed Eve’s blood out of my fur.

EVE! I nearly opened my eyes, but I stopped myself at the last second. My heart was pounding in my throat as I realized that the second I opened my eyes I would know whether the operation had been successful, or… I couldn’t even conceptualize the alternative. I didn’t want to look, just in case, but at the same time I needed to know.

Finally I opened my eyes, and felt all of my breath leave my body. The bed next to me where Eve had been when I went down was empty. The sheets were stripped away, bundled up at the foot of the bed. A deep red-brown stain marked the center of the mattress, the only evidence that Eve had ever been there.

I felt tears prickle the back of my eyes, and I couldn’t help but give off a short gasp that morphed quickly into a sob. I was too late. It was over. It was all my fault. An evil nagging voice in the back of my head cried out _you shouldn’t have risked it!_ I was exhausted, and I had killed my best friend. I stopped trying to hold myself together. I buried my head in my pillow and I began to cry.

“Slink?” the voice was soft, barely a whisper, but to me it sounded clear as a bell. I forced myself to roll over. There, in the bed behind me, lying on her side and gazing at me was Eve. My exhaustion went away instantly, but the tears remained, but now they were tears of joy. If either of us had been in any state to get up, we would have been at each other's side in an instant, as it was we could only stare at each other.

“Eve,” I gasped happily. “You’re okay.”

“Of course,” she said. Her voice was weak, but I could hear the laughter in it. “And I hear it is all thanks to you.” Her chest was completely covered by clean white bandages, and it thrilled me to no end to see that nothing was leaking through. She was going to be fine!

I couldn’t speak. I had no words left.

“Kegan, come on!” I heard someone shout. From the slightly muffled feel, I assumed that whoever it was was outside in hallway. I could just barely make out Kegan’s deeper tone as he replied, but he wasn’t talking as loud.

“Fine they can stay out here, but I need to see them!” In the back of my head I realized that I recognized the voice.

“Vix,” I mumbled to Eve, who gave half a nod before grunting. Apparently it hurt to even nod.

Before either of us could figure out what was going on, the doors burst open as a brownish-red furry mass pushed through them. She paused for a moment, scanning the room, before she found Eve’s pink form. She sprinted across the room, ready to leap up onto the bed with Eve like she had with me.

“Vix, wait!” I called out. Vix quickly planted her front paws and leaned back, quickly skidding to a stop. “Vix, you can’t jump up with Eve like that. You have to be more careful. Be gentle.”

Vix blushed slightly before she carefully hopped up onto the foot of Eve’s bed. I heard a slight squeak as Eve felt the slight shock of her movement. Vix tucked her ears close to her head and looked down, as if she expected to be scolded. She gingerly placed each paw as she crept up the bed towards Eve, finally arriving at about chest level.

“I was so worried.” Vix mumbled quietly. I felt a surge of guilt rush through me. I should have brought Vix back with me, but I had been so worried that I had left her, with a stranger, in the middle of a deadly Dungeon. I had forgotten that she was a child, and I had dumped the huge responsibility of getting Sierra back on her. I didn’t even think about how Eve’s injury would affect her. How much it would scare her.

Eve couldn’t exactly hug her, but she found a solution. She reached up with her tail and wrapped Vix in it, pulling her up near her head. She carefully nuzzled up against the little fox, who was shaking from fright and relief from what I could tell. Eve uncurled her tail as Vix turned to face me. She squatted at the edge of Eve’s bed and sprung over and landed on mine. She rubbed up against my chest and under my chin.

“And then I got back, and I heard that you were in surgery too. What happened?” I wrapped my forelegs around the young girl, pulling her to my chest. I had a slight amount of Psychic power now that I had slept a little. I knew that neither Kegan or Candice would approve, but I pushed my bed so that it was pressed against Eve’s. All three of us scooched closer to the center until we were as close as we could get.

“They needed blood so that they could save Eve. I told them to take mine.” I didn’t mention that realistically it was just as likely that my blood would have killed Eve. Vix didn’t need to know that. We just laid there for a moment as a Team. As friends. As a family.

I rubbed a paw over Vix’s forlegs, stopping as I realized that something was wrong. “Vix, where is your bandage?”

Vix looked down, flexing her paw. “Oh, right. Candace fixed it in a heartbeat. Really, you both nearly die and that is what you are concerned about?”

I could still hear Kegan talking with somebody out in the hallway. “Hey, Vix you mentioned that ‘they can stay out there’. Who are they?”

Vix just looked at me with her eyebrow raised. “Sierra and Abigail, duh.”

“What? And Kegan won’t let them in?”

“He says that they aren’t Society Members, so he can’t let him in.” Vix shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t mind.”

I rolled my eyes. “Kegan!” I called out.

The Psychic poked his head into the room. “Yes? Is everything alright?”

“Let Sierra and Abigail in.” I commanded. “Sierra saved our lives. He can come see us. And Abigail is the whole reason we went out there to begin with. Let her in too.”

Kegan opened his mouth to argue before he must have thought better of it. Instead he ducked back outside before throwing the door open. “Okay, Slink asked for you guys. Slink! I can only allow this for a few minutes.” I nodded. I understood.

Sierra rushed in, kinda reminded me of Vix actually, running down the hospital ward to where Eve and I were. “Are you guys okay?” I was a bit shocked. Sierra seemed genuinely concerned for us. I hadn’t seen him display this amount of care for anything but Abigail. She walked in much more slowly, looking awkward as she kept her head low and her tail down. She looked uncomfortable.

“We’re fine.” I said, still watching the obviously uncomfortable Abigail. “Hey, Abigail, you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” she said quietly. Now that her life wasn’t in danger she seemed rather shy. “And, would you please just call me Abby. You calling me Abigail seems...weird.” She trailed off.

“Hey, Vix,” I said softly, “why didn’t you take Abig- I mean Abby back to the apartment? Eve and I will probably be here for a while. And I doubt these two want to leave today..?” I looked pointedly at Sierra.

Vix grumbled to herself, but after a stern look from Eve she shut up and reluctantly got off of the bed. She went to Eve’s bag and pulled out the key to our apartment. “Come on Abby. Let’s go.”

Sierra watched the two girls leave before turning to me. “I guess we are staying the night.”

“Maybe longer,” I interrupted. Eve glanced at me, but I was laser focused on Sierra. “Why are you here on the Fire continent?”

“I told you,” Sierra said suddenly nervous, “we came here to stay with family.”

“Family that lives in town right?” I asked casually.

“Yeah,” Sierra mumbled.

“That’s odd. You came into town from the north, but you had to have gone through the whole town to get to us. How come you didn’t find any of your family? How come you are still here with us?”

Sierra opened his mouth, but then he realized that he didn’t have an argument. “You got me. We have been traveling the world, looking for a place.” He shook his head. “We hadn’t tried the Fire continent yet, so we figured why not. Turns out there is a shiny scourge here. Looks like we have to try somewhere else.”

“Maybe not.” I said. Eve looked at me like I was crazy, but it wasn’t like she could do much to stop me at this point.

“The Hatred came after Abby,” Sierra said, “we are not safe here.”

“I’m not sure if you were there to notice,” I said, “but Smoke, the Greninja who nearly killed Eve, was aiming for me. I was the one who was supposed to die. They are after me too.”

“But-” Sierra tried to protest, but I wasn’t done.

“I told you to send Vix back here. She is young and I was trying to protect her, but I was also trying to keep her away from the Hatred. They want her as well, because she can navigate Dungeons. We are all in danger, but did you see what we did today?”

“Eve nearly got killed,” Sierra prompted.

I shook my head. “We only know of six members of the Hatred. Four are Dark Type and or some other Type we are weak to, but the other two are Fighting Types.”

“So?”

“So, we can take care of the Fighting Types, and you and Abby can take care of the Dark Types, or at least the ones we can’t.” The Absol looked uncomfortable, like he didn’t know what to say.

“Look, it is messy,” I said, “and it seems like we can’t keep you safe, but we can keep eachother safe. We risked our lives to help you and your daughter. Like it or not we are a family, and that means we look out for each other no matter what.”

Sierra looked at me like I was crazy, but then he smiled. “My only wish, for years now, was to find a place where Abby and I would be safe and accepted. You three seem like the only ones crazy enough to take that chance. Thank you.” He shifted his feet uncomfortably. “I think I’ll go. Let you two get some rest. Hopefully those two haven't completely destroyed your apartment yet.”

He walked out the door, shutting it quietly behind him. I heard him exchange a polite word with Kegan, and then he was gone.”

I laid back down so that I was eye to eye with Eve. “I did the right thing here, correct?”

She nodded, slowly and carefully. “I think so. But please don't get into the habit of inviting almost strangers into our home.”

I laughed, wiggling closer to her so that our noses were touching. “Noted.”

We both bent our heads down at the same time, until our foreheads were touching. The top of my muzzle was pressed against her nose. Sure Blissey would come in in a while to conduct some tests, sure I would be discharged from the hospital tomorrow, and sure I would spend every moment of the next week at Eve’s side as she slowly recuperated, only returning home to check up on Vix and Sierra, but none of that mattered at the moment. As Eve and I just lay there, our foreheads pressed together, her tail curled around mine, I couldn't have been more content.


	9. One Year

Eve was pressed so close to me that her shoulder bumped against mine with every step we took. Our hips bumped into each other as we walked, and as was the case more and more recently, her tail was curled innocently around mine. 

The summer sun was warm, almost stiflingly hot. We were on the Fire continent after all. Sunny Day was kind of a given. We had just gotten back from a job really early. The Beedrill who had lost a precious chunk of honeycomb while traveling through a Dungeon hadn’t realized that he had only lost it one floor in. He must have really felt embarrassed as he handed over our 400P reward. So now Eve and I were headed to the market, and then eventually to the library.

“Sierra gave me a list of ingredients that he says he needs for dinners this week,” Eve explained as we got closer and closer to the market. No offense to Eve, but Sierra was an amazing cook. It was worth adding him to the team just for that. He did all of the cooking now, but neither Eve or I complained.

“And then I have a few things that we need. I know Vix uses way more shampoo than she needs to whenever she takes a bath, and Sierra and Abby go through a ton with how thick their fur is. So we need another two bottles of the stuff.” 

I grunted in response. Eve raised an eyebrow at me, but she shook her head and kept going. “And then of course we have to restock our supply of berries, seeds, and wands. Oh, and my bag is getting a little worn out,” she added holding it up so I could see. The leather in the bottom of the bag was extremely faded, the brown going white from age, stress, and strain. I could see one or two holes in the weak material. 

“So I’m going to have to see if I can get it repaired, or else I might have to get a new one.” She paused, as though she expected a response from me. Then she plowed on when I didn't answer. 

“Once we’re done, I was hoping that we could run by the library again tonight. We have plenty of time and I hope that maybe we can figure something else out.” I grimaced slightly at this. I was beyond honored that Eve spent so much time with me trying to find the Dreamstone, but at the same time it felt like all we ever did was go to the library. She was a maniac, but I guess she was the only reason why we had actually made a small breakthrough.

I can't believe we hadn't figured it out earlier, but my father was the linchpin in this whole puzzle. He had to have seen the Dreamstone himself, or at least met someone who had seen the Dreamstone. As far as I knew he had only ever visited three continents. He was born on the Water continent (where my grandfather had lived his whole life), he eventually visited the Mist continent (where he had gone to study and do odd jobs for the Expedition Society since he was an expert in… I want to say types of energy. It never really interested me). There he had met my mother, and once they got married they both moved to the Fire continent. It didn't narrow our field of search by too much, but it would be much easier to search three continents rather than the whole world.

“-How does that sound?” Eve suddenly asked me. My mind had been elsewhere, so I hadn't caught the actual question. I grumbled uncommittingly and shrugged.

Eve wrinkled her nose as she glared at me before she suddenly slammed into me, pushing me into a narrow alley. 

“What was that for?” I snapped grumpily. “There was no reason for that, stupid!”

Eve looked like I had just slapped her. To be fair, I might as well have. She wrinkled her nose at me as she growled. “Fine. Be that way. I think I’m gonna go to the market alone today. Perhaps you should go back to the apartment.” She pushed past me, heading deeper into the alley. 

I immediately felt guilty. “Eve, wait,” I called after her. “Please wait, I’m sorry!”

“Oh,  _ you’re sorry _ . What is your deal?” Eve said as she continued to walk away.

“I  _ am  _ sorry. I’m just going through some stuff today.” I rushed to finish the sentence. I felt horrible, I felt uncomfortable. 

“Going through what? Is that why you are being such a jerk today?” She paused for a moment. “You were fine this morning.”

“No, I’m certain I’ve been quiet all day.” I prompted. I wished I could change the subject. Man I felt so uncomfortable. “Look Eve I’m sorry. Can we just move on?”

“What are you going through?”

“Eve, I don't want to…”

“Fine, if you don't want to tell me, I don't want you with me either. You can head back to the apartment.” She strutted to the other end of the alley.

I sprinted forward and stopped her before she could leave the alley. “Wait!” I took a deep breath. “You are right. There isn't anything that I should feel uncomfortable talking to you about.” I sighed. “Eve do you know what is in three days?”

Eve cocked her head. “Uhh,” she said looking around as if the answer was written on the wall somewhere. Then I saw her expression change as the answer came to her. “In three days it will be one year since we met. Wow. I can't believe it has been a year already.”

I nodded agreement. “Yeah, but I am more worried about what was a year ago, today.”

Again Eve looked confused before a look of complete shock and horror appeared on her face. “Your family. Oh Arceus, Slink, I didn't realize.”

I shook my head fighting back tears. “Yeah. It's fine, I’ve just been spending a lot of time in my own head. Looking at memories.”

Eve leaned forward and nuzzled at my cheek. “I’m sorry. Would you prefer that we don't go to the library tonight? We can just stay home tonight. If you want to be alone, I can sleep on the other bed. Or on the couch.”

I took a step forward and draped my head over her shoulder in a makeshift hug. “No, having you all near… it makes me feel better.”

“Okay,” Eve purred, “we can finish shopping and then-”

“Eve!” a new voice shouted. I looked around wildly, and coming up the alleyway behind Eve was a pink and white shape. As I watched the shape exploded into bright, white light. I was almost instantly blinded, then something threw me backwards. 

I’m not sure “thrown backwards” is the best way to describe it. There was no sudden force or physical blow that knocked me backwards. As soon as the light enveloped me, I felt like I was suspended in midair. Simply floating. Then as the light began to fade, I realized that I wasn’t floating. I was falling. Flying backward through the air. I shot through the entryway of the alley, across the street where I crashed directly into a market stall that was selling different types of berries. Well they had been. The shopkeeper behind the stall would now have to sell jam.

My head slammed into the pavement, and everything went completely white for a second. When I came-to there was a deafening ringing in my ears, and I was almost paralyzed from shock.

“Slink,” I heard Eve shout followed by, and my ringing ears may have been deceiving me here, two sets of running footsteps. I was halfway blind, stunned to the point that I couldn't move, and I think I briefly experienced what the color purple tasted like. Looking back I  _ think  _ I had a concussion.

“Sam! What’d you do?” I heard Eve shout as she slid to a halt at my side. Sam? I wasn't exactly in any state to ask questions or think about anything really. “Slink, are you okay?”

I fought to try and make a sound. Naturally the breath had been knocked out of me too. “I’ve been better.” I managed to gasp.

“Here,” Eve said pressing something to my lips. I obediently opened my mouth as she slipped what I recognized as an Oran berry between my lips. I had a hell of a time swallowing it, but once I got it down my head cleared of the fog. I got shakily to my feet.

“What the hell happened?” I gasped. 

Eve grimaced. “Slink, this isn't the way I’d want you guys to meet. This is my sister Sam,” she gestured to the side. I barely noticed the Sylveon standing at her side. She regarded me past her nose that was tilted up slightly higher than was strictly necessary. “She may have attacked you just a little.”

“I noticed,” I said dryly. I winced as a throb of pain shot through my head. I turned to the Golduck who was fuming at me. “There don’t happen to be any Oran berries that I didn’t smash?” If looks could kill, the look he shot me would have stopped my heart. But he handed me a handful of round, blue berries. I wolfed them all down in one go before turning back to Eve and Sam. One looked rather concerned, and the other one continued to look at me down her nose with an eyebrow raised. I’ll let you guess which was which.

Eve turned to her sister. “Why did you attack him?!” I was happy to hear that Eve sounded angry with her sister.

Sam shrugged. When her voice came out, it was higher than Eve’s and sounded sickly-sweet. “He had you backed into an alley, and it looked like he was attacking you.” She turned to Eve, and without dropping her voice at all she said, “Who even is he?”

“He’s on my expedition team,” Eve said trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice, “and he was hugging me. We were good.”

“Okay. Well, I said sorry, so...” To be fair she hadn’t apologized to either of us.

“What are you even doing here Sam?” Eve asked, trying to change the subject. 

“I had to deliver a package here for work,” she said dismissively, “I took the job to come out here and check on you. I wanted to see how my sister was doing.” 

“Oh,” Eve said sounding taken aback.

“Plus, mom and dad want to know how you are doing out here. They wanted me to let them know if you made it and were safe, because you definitely didn’t. It’s been more than a year Eve. You haven’t written, you haven’t visited.”

Eve averted her gaze, “Sorry, I’ve been busy.”

“Really, too busy?” Sam asked. “Mom and dad are super worried. They thought you had chased after Shane and gotten into serious trouble.” 

I glanced between the two of them. I could tell that Sam was sincere, but I also sensed a small amount of smug victory as Eve continued to avoid her gaze. I could just feel how uncomfortable she was. “Hey,” I said trying to give Eve a way out, “Sierra, Abby, and Vix are expecting us back soon. We should get shopping done and get back.”

Eve grasped onto my words like they were the last drops of water in a vast desert. “Yeah, um we gotta get shopping done for this week.” Then Eve glanced at me and I could have sworn that I heard  _ forgive me _ in the back of my head. “So Sam, do you have to head back right away or can you stay for dinner?”

Sam smiled, lighting up. “I’d love to have dinner with you guys. Anything to spend more time with my little sister here.” She started off towards the market, “You don’t mind me tagging along with you two right?”

“You want me to say no, right?” I muttered to Eve. She laughed, but she swatted my shoulder. 

“Be nice,” she protested.

“So Sam, she’s the Sylveon sister you told me about?”

Suddenly Sam was there, and she must have heard me. “Eve, you’ve talked about me before? It better be a good story.”

“Yeah,” Eve pacified, “I was just telling him about how I evolved. I mentioned that my sister who was a Sylveon got attacked by an Arbok, and I evolved to save her.” I laughed as Eve hastily revised the retelling so she wouldn’t mention that Sam had been teasing her, which led to both of them fighting the Arbok. A question came to mind.

“You specified your Sylveon sister last time you told that story. Do you have another sister?”

Sam laughed. “Yeah, one.”

Eve grinned. “Our other sister is a Leafeon, if you wanted to know. We also have a little brother who is still an Eevee. At least he was when I left…” she trailed off awkwardly.

“He still is,” Sam assured her. “Seriously Eve, he is only six. He probably won’t evolve for another two or three years.”

Thankfully at that point we made it to the market, and we were too distracted to talk for a while. The market was usually busy, and that meant that all manner of Pokémon were wandering through the tents and stands looking for what they needed. The problem was that Eve, Sam, and I were only at about shin height for some of these creatures. Most were considerate and made sure to watch where they stepped, but some just charged rudely through the crowds not truly caring who they knocked over or potentially stepped on.

Eve and I were used to “running the gauntlet” as we called it, but Sam wasn't anywhere close to ready. Every once and a while I would hear her apologizing to some random Pokémon, or occasionally yelping as her tail, or more often her ribbons, were stepped on by a careless foot.

Eve insisted that she carry all of the grocery bags. Normally we split them half and half, but I couldn't summon any Psychic power without getting a splitting headache. I could have carried one or two normally, but Sam simply scooped them up with her ribbons and held them aloft. 

Eve and I fell into step side by side as we led Sam back to the apartment. All conversation seemed to have dried up, and my head was throbbing once again. In this lul, I felt my memories and sadness encroaching back into my mind, threatening to swallow me up again. Desperate to keep them at bay, I leaned over to Eve and said the first thing that came to mind.

“So you ran away from home, and haven't talked to your family since?” It was only as they were leaving my mouth that my brain finally comprehended what the words meant. Eve turned her head away from me, deep red blush coloring her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” I tried to retreat, “I don't know why I asked that.”

Instead of remaining silent, or slapping me (either would have been a suitable reaction), Eve turned back to me. “I’ll tell you later.”

Honestly I had never been more excited to enter our apartment and be with Pokemon who weren't Eve or Sam. Sierra was sitting quietly at the kitchen table when we walked in, reading a book. Vix was in her usual spot, sprawled across the whole couch watching TV. 

Eve and Sam placed the groceries on the counter, and Eve replaced her key in the bowl by the door. We only had two copies of the key, so whenever someone left they would just grab a set on their way out. It worked most of the time, but Vix had spent a lot of time waiting in the hallway knocking on the door after locking herself out.

Sierra didn't even look up from his book as we entered. He raised a paw over his shoulder and waved it halfheartedly. Vix didn't even acknowledge our presence. 

“Hey Sierra,” Eve said with a laugh at our underwhelming welcoming committee. “Where's Abigail?”

“She decided to go to the library again.” He chuckled to himself. “That child and her books. I’ll be surprised if she doesn't read through the whole library this year.”

“Or before we do,” I muttered to Eve who worked hard to stifle her giggle. We had decided not to fill in Sierra or Abigail about the whole Dreamstone business. Neither of us wanted to bother them with even more of our problems.

Vix suddenly popped up from the couch. “Hey guys,” she said almost dismissively as she sniffed the air. She hopped down from the couch to come and inspect the bags we had come back with. “Did you buy anything good? Chocolate? Cookies?” She nosed her way into one of the bags and began rooting around inside.

“Vix,” Eve said half exasperated, half laughing, “you literally just had lunch. How can you still be hungry?”

“Correction,” Vix said, still within the bag, “I had lunch over two hours ago, and I am always hungry.”

Vix pulled her head out of the bag to fix Eve with one of her withering glares, but she never made it that far. “Who the heck are you?” She glanced from me, to Eve, and back to Sam. “Seriously, you two need to stop bringing strangers home.”

“Hey,” Sierra protested, finally looking up from his book. He immediately noticed Sam and seemed to get stuck for a moment. His expression seemed frozen halfway between indignant and surprised. Finally he forced out a tiny, “Hello?”

Sam seemed a little taken aback. She looked madly between Sierra and Vix, trying to figure out which one she should address first. 

“Uh, Sierra, Vix,” Eve said, “I’d like you to meet my sister, Samantha, er um, Sam.”

“Is she staying long?” Vix stage whispered to me. Sam raised an eyebrow at the little fox.

“I think she is only staying for dinner.” I actually whispered back.

“Okay.” Vix turned tail (or tails?) and retreated back to the couch. Sam just looked baffled. 

“Er, well I’m Sierra,” Sierra said holding out a paw for Sam. She gingerly took it with one of her ribbons and shook. “My daughter will be back later,” Sierra continued, “she went to the library.” He looked slightly uncomfortable, especially since Sam had yet to say anything. “So, Eve shall I start dinner? I assume I’m cooking for six.”

Eve nodded, and Sierra got straight to work. Sam, Eve, and I went over to the kitchen table and sat down. 

“So what's everyone's story?” Sam asked Eve glancing at everyone, including me.

“Well, I found Slink first. He was being attacked by a Mr. Mime and a Toxicroak. I helped him out and he decided to join the Expedition Society with me.” Eve glanced at me, and I nodded in agreement. We didn't currently have a Psychic connection open, but we had done this enough that we knew which bits of the story to leave out. “We are co-leaders of Team Mindfire.”

“We met Vix going through the Mountain pass,” I continued. “She had been living all by herself in a tiny burrow just off of a Mystery Dungeon for six years.”

“How old is she?” Sam asked.

“Ten,” I said, “her birthday was a couple months ago.”

“So we kinda took her in. She's a good girl, she just hasn't had that much social interaction and so she isn't very good at it.” Eve grinned to herself.

“We met Sierra almost nine months ago,” I continued, “someone had kidnapped his daughter as they were passing through the Fire continent, so we helped him rescue her. They didn't exactly have anywhere to go, so they stuck here with us.”

“And that's everyone.” Eve finished evenly. “We work pretty well together, although I must say we don't exactly have the most varied typing, but that hasn't really been a problem yet.”

Sam sat there and regarded the two of us for a moment. “Sounds like you have had a hell of a year here sis. Glad that life here is so good. Not that you apparently want to tell anyone back home about it.” The mood around the table immediately went from comfortable and friendly to tense and angry in just a few seconds. 

“Slink,” Eve said with a noticeable tension in her voice, “I think we're gonna start talking about private, sister stuff. Do you mind?”

I knew this was my cue to leave, but I wanted to know what was going on between Eve and her family. She had promised to tell me, and it was later… “Uh,” I said as I tried to think of an excuse not to leave.

Eve fixed me with a glare that made me involuntarily lean back a bit. “Slink. Now!”

“Of course.” I said hurriedly. “If anyone needs me, I will be watching TV with Vix.”

Sierra fell into step next to me. He seemed to be heading to the couch as well. “I just started a pot boiling. It will take a while before it will be ready,” he hurriedly explained. “Also I don't want to be anywhere near their ‘sisterly conversation’.”

Unfortunately our couch was rather small. It had been just large enough that Eve, Vix, and I could lay on it comfortably side by side. Since Sierra and Abby had moved in we had bought two pretty comfortable chairs for whomever wanted them. Unfortunately it was rather hard to see the TV from them. Sierra was large enough that usually only one other could share the couch with him, so he typically got a chair.

With the way Vix liked to lay on the couch, there was no way anyone else could lay next to her. She was laying in the exact center, on her back, watching the TV with her head hanging off the edge. Her forelegs were tucked neatly to her chest. Her back legs were splayed wide with her tails fanned out behind her.

“Vix, do you mind?” I asked.

“No, I can still see the TV,” she replied.

“Vix,” I said without any amusement, “get up!”

She huffed at me, but she quickly rolled over and hopped off the couch. Sierra and I leapt up and settled down with our rears toward the center and our heads about on the arm rests. Surprisingly instead of curling up in the empty space between us, Vix leapt up and settled against my chest. Instinctively I draped a foreleg over her, pulling her closer. 

“So what do you think of Sam?” I asked Vix after a while.

She shrugged. “I don't really know. She seems a bit high and mighty. Seriously did Eve act like that when we first met her?”

“I don't think so.” I said. “ Sam attacked me when she first saw us today.”

“I like her already,” Vix grinned. “Why'd she do that?” 

“Well,” I said, still a little indignant about the whole thing, “I was hugging Eve, and she, for some reason, thought I was attacking her.”

“Wait,” Vix said with all of the excitement of a detective finding the last piece of evidence they needed, “you guys were hugging.” She gave me a goofy grin. “Would you two just get together already? You already sleep together. Might as well go all the way.”

“Vix would you stay focused.” The little fox shrugged in front of me. I craned my neck back over the couch. Eve and Sam had their heads practically pressed together and were whispering. “I wonder what they are talking about.” 

“Probably something stupid. Or they could be talking about you.” Vix trailed off as she refocused on the show.

“Thank you,” I grumbled. I felt antsy all of a sudden. Vix had scored a hit.  _ Were _ they talking about me?

So I did the wrong thing. I reached out with my Psychic senses sending a tendril of thought over to where Eve and Sam were talking. My head throbbed, but I forced myself through it. Eve would certainly sense me the instant I penetrated her mind, the debate was whether she would force me out. Sam on the other hand was a lot less likely to feel me in her head, but she would be a lot less happy if she did find me snooping around.

I held my breath, crossed every digit I had, and carefully slipped into Sam’s mind. Immediately I heard her voice, as clear as if I was standing next to her. “So what is the deal with Slink?”

Really? I'm glad I hadn't betted against Vix. They were talking about me. I spaced out for a second before I realized that I hadn't heard Eve’s response yet.

“Well, he is a year older than I am. For some reason he never evolved from a Fennekin. Nobody really understands it, even him.” I could only hear Eve’s voice not see her, but even I could hear what seemed to be a blush in her voice.

“That wasn't what I was asking,” Sam teased. “What is  _ your  _ deal with Slink?”

There was a pause. I could picture Eve looking around to make sure no one was watching or listening. “My deal with Slink. We are really good friends, and he has saved my life more times than I could count. He has risked his life for mine so many times. He says that that is what you do for family. I’ve even risked my life for his a few times.” There was a slight rustle as Eve shifted. “This scar is from that.”

“What happened?” Sam gasped as I imagined her inspecting the thin, white, y-shaped scar on Eve’s chest. 

“I leapt in the way of an attack meant for him. And then he went and risked his life for me again. He donated blood so that they could perform a surgery on me. I’m alive several times over because of him. I know he loves me and…” she paused, and I could sense that she was debating whether to admit the rest to her sister, “... and I know I love him.”

I heard Sam take a long, hissing breath in, but before she could say anything Eve butted in again. “No, you do not get to criticize me over this. Move on!”

“Fine,” Sam barked, “what about Vix?”

“What about Vix,” Eve growled back. I could sense the steadily growing hostility in her voice.

“I mean seriously Eve, are any of you qualified to raise a child? Especially one that is so… strange.” I had to take a moment to step back and wrestle my emotions back into control. The fastest way to be discovered would be for Sam to notice an errant burst of emotion in her head. I took a deep breath trying to calm myself. Vix was fine, how dare she talk about her like that.

Once I was sure I was calm enough I plunged back into Sam’s head. Thankfully from what I was able to hear, Eve was saying what I wanted to.

“... Vix’s mother was killed almost in front of her, and she lived by herself in a Mystery Dungeon for six years. Anyone would be ‘strange’ after that. And yes, we are qualified. The Expedition Society threatened to take away our custody of Vix unless we proved we were capable of taking care of her. Obviously she is still with us.”

“But-” Sam tried to argue, but Eve immediately cut her off. 

“No, you are not allowed to barge in here and judge my friends, my team, my family.”

“Family?” Sam said, pouncing on the opening that Eve had created. “Really, family. You have the gall to call these… Pokemon family when you abandoned yours and haven’t talked to them in over a year. Eve, we missed you. We were worried about you!”

I wasn’t sure I needed the Psychic connection anymore, the sisters were nearly shouting. Eve leaned in and growled in a low voice to Sam. “I’m sorry, but I left for a reason. I’m sorry I didn’t write, but I wasn’t sure yet what I wanted to say. Why does this matter so much to you?”

“Please,” Sam scoffed, “you know exactly why. We grew up together, you don’t think I haven’t felt your Psychic power in my head this whole time?”

“What?” Eve asked, “I haven’t been using Psychic.”

I felt my heart skip a beat, an ice cold burst of adrenaline shooting through my body. I released my Psychic power, returning to my own head. Just in time too. “Slink?” Eve called.

I tried to keep my heart rate down as I turned around, with a look of innocence on my face (I hoped). “Yes?” I said, but even I heard the tremble in my voice.

Eve fixed me with a deathly serious glare. “Were you spying on our conversation?”

I laughed nervously. “Eve, I haven't moved from the couch. How could I have been snooping?”

“Slink, I’m not an idiot. Don't you dare lie to me! You and I both know that you were inside Sam’s head.” Sam was glaring at me with a disgusted look on her face. Seriously it wasn't like I’d killed anybody. Eve looked mad, but at the same time I thought I could sense a slight amount of amusement in Eve’s eyes.

“Yeah,” I said carefully, “but to be fair I was only listening. I didn't actually look inside of your head Sam.” I waited for the other shoe to drop, but Arceus must have known that I needed someone to bail me out. Thankfully at that moment we heard the sound of jingling keys in the lock as Abigail opened the door.

Right into an entirely new set of problems. Sam took one look at the young Absol and let out a shriek, leaping back, and overturning her chair. Eeveelution and chair fell to the floor with a crash. I could have sworn I heard a tiny squeak from Sam. “Shiny?!”

Sierra, who had been hunkered down on the couch next to me trying to pretend like he didn't exist, leapt to his feet in an instant. He looked around wildly trying to figure out what had happened. I’m not even sure he noticed that Sam had fallen out of her chair. “Hey Abby, honey. How was the library?”

Abigail opened her mouth to answer, but she was cut off as Sam let out another squeak. “This is Abigail?”

“Yes,” Eve said, confusion and apprehension apparent in her voice, “why?”

Sam tried to whisper, but she didn’t do it very well. We all heard what she said next. “You never told me that she was shiny.”

The room was silent for a moment as we all processed this. Abigail’s cheeks were purple with how hard she was blushing. She hung her head slightly, letting the bag full of books she had brought back drag along the floor. Thankfully Vix knew what to do.

“Abby, you want to go play a game?” Vix called out, sounding friendly as if nothing at all had happened. “Gregory got a new game the other day, and he let me borrow it.”

Vix had been a bit hesitant to welcome Sierra and Abby at first. I think that she wasn’t really comfortable with having more people around, heck she had just barely warmed up to Eve and me by the time Sierra came around. However she had quickly grown close with Abigail. Sierra had told Eve and me that Abby was nine, only a few months younger than Vix, and that the young Absol hadn’t been very friendly before. I think we all were happy that the two girls were getting along. 

Vix opened the door to their bedroom and held it open for Abby. She gave me a significant look, and then entered after her. Closing the door firmly behind them.

As soon as they were gone, Sierra’s fur poofed up slightly as he growled deep in his throat. “What do you mean?” He snarled at Sam who looked terrified. Honestly I didn’t blame her. “What is wrong with Abigail being shiny?”

I put a paw on Sierra’s shoulder, trying to calm him down a bit. He shrugged it off, but he seemed to deflate slightly. Instead of arguing with the angry Absol, Sam turned to the one person who might have been even slightly on her side. “Those Pokemon who kidnapped Abigail… they were The Hatred weren’t they?” 

“Yes.” Eve said calmly. She seemed to know exactly how this conversation was going to go. I could sense a calm disappointment inside of her.

“Eve, how could you get involved with the Hatred again?” Sam seemed both fearful and angry. A strange combination. “After what happened last time, with what dad told you…?”

Eve didn’t blink. She didn’t react. She walked past Sam, and pushed open the door to our bedroom. “Sam, can I have a word with you? Alone?” She glared at me.

Sam huffed, but followed her into the room, slamming the door behind them. The room was silent for a minute, only the sound of Sierra’s angry breathing filling the room. 

“Sierra,” I said after a minute, addressing him cautiously, “I’m sorry. When I met her, I didn’t realize that she would react like that. I didn’t realize that she would say those things. It isn’t Abby’s fault, and it isn’t your fault.”

“Yeah,” he grumbled, “It’s Eve’s fault.”

“Wait, no it isn’t her fault either.” I tried.

“You said it yourself, you didn’t know that Sam would react that way, but Eve should have. Eve shouldn’t have brought her here.”

“Hey,” I argued, “yes, Eve should have known, but Sam shouldn’t have just blurted that stuff out.”

Sierra looked like he wanted to argue with me, but he didn’t. He simply moved back into the kitchen and continued to work on dinner. “Sierra?” He didn’t answer me. 

I let him stew, but without someone or something to distract me I began to get restless. What were Eve and Sam talking about in there? Was Eve okay? She would kill me if I started snooping again, but…

I turned to the TV and tried to pretend like I was interested in what was going on, but I couldn't stay focused. I could feel a slight buzz inside of my head, which began to pound. Apparently I wasn't completely recovered from the concussion I had received that morning.

I put my paws to my head, massaging my temples, trying to ease the buzz, and the tingle that had developed at the base of my skull. 

As I sat there, I thought I heard faint voices, Eve’s and Sam’s. But then again that was impossible. They were in a separate room with the door closed. And besides even if they were shouting and could be heard out here, Sierra was continuing to cook like nothing was happening.

Then I realized, I was hearing their voices, and I wasn't feeling the after effects of my concussion. I dove inward, and there in the back of my mind, at the base of my skull there was a glowing pink chord. The voices were echoing down it. I sent my own Psychic force up the pink chord, winding through the door, into the bedroom, and right into Eve’s head.

_ About time you showed up, genius. _ Eve’s voice echoed inside of her head.

_ Wait, now you want me in your head?  _ I wasn't complaining, but I was a bit confused.

Eve seemed to chuckle, which was a bit odd expressed as a thought.  _ I promised I would tell you more later. Heck I would have let you into my head earlier if you had just asked. _

_ Why though,  _ I asked feeling almost nervous,  _ why let me in on this? _

_ You said it earlier. There isn't anything I should feel uncomfortable telling you about. I trust you enough to make you a part of this. _

As her mental voice quieted, I heard the conversation, or more accurately the argument that Eve and her sister were having.

“... I don't care. They are my friends.” Eve glared at Sam with her usual stubbornness. 

“But Eve, the Hatred. With them around isn't it much more risky that-?”

“Sam, we all have a past with the Hatred. Slink’s entire family was killed by the Hatred, and they are still after him. The Hatred killed Vix’s mother, and is after her too.”

“How can you say that so calmly?” Sam gasped. “Don't you remember what the Hatred did? What they did to you? Why aren't you more afraid?”

“I told you. Because the others. We band together to protect each other. There aren't enough of them to completely outmatch us with Types. There is always one of us who can take any of them out.”

“But what about Shane?” Sam asked her voice lowering slightly. “You can't fight him if he decides to come after you.”

Eve nodded. “I can't fight him. But Slink can. I already told you that he has saved my life so many times. He protects me from Shane and the Hatred. And I try to protect him.”

Sam was quiet for a moment. “Eve what exactly is your relationship with Slink? I mean you live together, you essentially have a kid together. What is going on?”

I could tell Eve was very conscious of me in her head, but she didn’t force me out. She glanced over at the mirror over the desk and nodded to herself, to me. “We owe each other so much. I can’t imagine my life without him in it. I love him, and although we haven’t talked about it, I think he is my partner. Does that work for you?”

She made it sound like she was asking Sam, but I knew she was really asking me. She was silent both inside and out for a moment, waiting.  _ Of course  _ I said softly,  _ I love you.  _ Eve suddenly snapped her attention back to the mirror, staring at “me” looking surprised. It took me a moment to realize that this was the first time either of us had said that to one another. Unless you count whispering it to her while she was asleep. Wow, she must love me to not be creeped out by that.

Sam looked taken aback, almost guilty. Eve plowed on. “These people protect me, they love me. Slink is my partner and Vix is essentially my daughter. Sierra and Abigail may be new, but they are a part of this family, and I will not sit idly by and watch you insult them.”

The room was silent for quite a while. It was even completely silent inside of Eve’s head. Finally Sam mumbled quietly. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to be the older sister,” she said, “I’m trying to protect you. You went out and saw the world, and I never really did. The world was scarier than I thought, and so I was worried about you. I shouldn’t have been. You have always been better at figuring the world out than me. But what happened last time, when you got involved with the Hatred, that was scary. For all of us. It scares me that you are still involved. What am I going to tell our parents, Emma, and Austin?”

I felt Eve sigh internally. “Tell them the truth. I am safe and happy here. I have good friends who love and protect me. Tell them…” she trailed off, and I felt her mentally glance at me, “tell them that I forgive them, but I’m not ready to talk to them. It won’t be another year though. I’ll write when I am ready.”

Sam sighed before she stepped forward and wrapped her ribbons around Eve, tucking her into a hug. “I’m sorry Eve.” Sam sat there for a moment.

Eve smiled, and I felt a feeling of contentment radiating from her. “Thank you, but you have a few more people to apologize to.”

As they both headed for the door, I closed the Psychic connection and returned to my own head. As soon I settled in I gave off a sharp gasp. My head was pounding, and a dull ache was pulsing between my eyes. That was enough Psychic for today… and potentially tomorrow. 

The door to the bedroom opened slowly, and Eve exited first followed closely by Sam. Eve looked rather pleased with herself, but she refused to meet my gaze just then. We would have to talk later. Sam looked a bit embarrassed, but she had finally lost her superior stance. She no longer looked down her nose at everybody.

“Um, Sierra,” Sam asked quietly. The Absol didn't respond. He continued bustling around the kitchen getting everything ready for dinner. “Sierra?” Sam asked again, a bit more forcefully. Again the Dark Type didn't respond.

Sam glanced hopelessly at Eve who simply gave the Sylveon a “go ahead” gesture with her tail. 

“Sierra, please. I want to apologize for what I said earlier.” Sierra froze for a moment before slowly turning to face the Eeveelution. “Sierra, I’m sorry about what I said about your daughter. It was completely unacceptable. My only defense is that I have had some bad experiences with shiny Pokémon in my life, and I hadn't expected your daughter to be shiny. I realize that this doesn't excuse my behavior, and I hope that you can forgive me.”

Sierra seemed at a loss. He glanced at Eve and raised an eyebrow at her. Eve laughed, and gave a slight nod. Sam was being sincere. Sierra nodded and then gave Sam half a grin. “Thank you for apologizing. We have faced several hardships because of what Abby is, so we aren't unfamiliar with your reaction. Your apology though isn't something we’ve really ever gotten. I forgive you,” he suddenly turned stern, “but you better apologize to Abigail as well.”

Sam then turned to me. “Sorry about what I said Slink. That wasn't cool. And sorry for getting mad at you for snooping. Being Psychic must make that tempting.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Don't apologize for that. I was way out of line, entering your head without permission. Can you forgive me?”

Sam giggled. “It's not like you could have done anything in my head. Growing up with Eve taught me how to build up some serious barriers.” She glanced at her sister.

“Yeah,” I said without thinking, “I bet you and Emma had a handful with Eve around.”

Sam laughed before stopping suddenly. “Emma?” 

I realized my mistake instantly and I tried to recover. “Yeah, your sister Emma.”

“I don't think I mentioned Emma around you.” Sam stared at me daring me to try and defend myself.

“Well, Eve told me about her.” I attempted, but Sam shot me down.

“No, she told you about our other sister this morning, I was there, and we only said that our sister was a Leafeon. Nothing else.” Sam turned red. “Were you listening in on our conversation again?”

“Yes,” I admitted, “but to be fair, Eve gave me permission this time, and I was in her head.”

Sam was probably less livid than she could have been, but she was still angry. Abigail and Vix however chose that as the perfect moment to leave their room. 

“You totally cheated!” Vix accused playfully, “There is no way you just won eight games in a row.”

“I didn't cheat,” Abby smirked, “it's called having a strategy. Besides for that one game you didn't even move your Wailmer or Kyogre.”

“I didn't think you would guess there again. Come on who guesses I-8 on their first move?”

Abigail chose to ignore Vix. “Hey dad, is dinner almost ready?”

“Almost,” Sierra said back, “so you and Vix should go get washed up.”

“Wait you two,” Eve said, throwing out her tail to stop the children from moving, “Sam has something she wants to say to you.”

“Er, uh,” Sam said looking a bit uncomfortable. “Vix, I’m sorry if I insulted you. I had no idea about your past-”

“Yeah, you didn't insult me,” Vix cut her off, “and even if you had I probably wouldn't have cared.” She turned to Eve. “Can I go now?”

Sam was caught off guard by Vix's brutal honesty. She didn't quite know what to say so she turned to Abby.

“Abigail, I wanted to apologize for the way I acted when you walked in. I’ve had some bad experiences in the past with shiny Pokémon and I guess I was caught off guard.”

“Were they the Hatred?” Abby asked sweetly. “They kidnapped me a few months ago, but Eve and Slink saved me.”

“They were the Hatred,” Sam said with a small smile, “and thankfully I did have Eve to help me.

Abigail nodded. “Eve’s the best. I have to go wash my paws now before dinner now. Thank you for saying sorry.” The red Absol gave Sam a sincere smile, before turning towards the bathroom door.

Somehow, everyone survived through dinner, and even more surprisingly we all warmed up to Sam. More or less. Sierra still acted a bit lukewarm around her, but Vix and Abby had a lot of fun asking her about Eve.

Actually I had fun talking to Sam about Eve too, hearing all of the stories about her childhood that had never come up in everyday conversation. But I could tell that Sam was avoiding a topic. A black, blue-ringed, topic. With how close Eve and Shane were as kids it seemed a bit odd that Sam never mentioned him.

“So it was our grandmother’s birthday,” Sam began laughing before she even started, “and Eve and Sh- one of her friends had decided they wanted to make her a special soup like our mother always made.”

“Hey, that is what happened,” Eve protested trying not to smile.

“That’s not how I remember it.” Sam countered with a smirk. “So she and her friend gathered up a whole bunch of berries and seeds, and they cut them up and put them in a big bowl of water. Then they decided that wasn’t enough, so they added some other stuff. They added some dirt…”

“The water didn’t look like mom’s soup,” Eve tried to defend.

“...they added cotton balls…”

“It wasn’t thick enough, so we thought we should absorb some of the water…”

“...and I think some soap…”

“We knew that there were germs in dirt, and we didn’t want anyone to get sick!”

“...until they just had a thick, soapy, bowl of mud with chunks of berry in it. And so our parents came home, and they got in so much trouble, because they had used all of the berries in the house.” Abby and Vix burst out laughing, Vix nearly fell out of her chair. I couldn’t help chuckling, but I stopped with the look Eve shot me. 

I glanced away, and noticed the clock above the sink. “Oh, Arceus, it is nine o'clock.” Everyone else shot a look at the clock, as though they didn't believe me.”

Sierra, who was watching TV over on the couch, looked up suddenly. “Oh, I didn't realize that it was that late. Abby, you need to get to bed.”

Abby started pouting and Vix smirked at her. The Fire fox looked rather smug, that is until I shut her down. “That means that you should be headed to bed as well. In fact we should all be going to bed.”

Vix huffed at me, “Fine!” 

“Well, I guess I’ll be going then.” Sam said, standing up and stretching.

“Going where?” Eve asked, raising an eyebrow at her sister. 

“I was only planning on staying for dinner. I’ve got to start home.”

“At nine at night?” Eve asked, hoping that her sister was joking. “You do realize that no matter how you try and go home, you will have to pass through a Mystery Dungeon right? It's night, all the Dungeons are sealed and shifting. Stay the night and head out tomorrow morning.” Eve phrased it like a suggestion, but her tone made it clear that it was a command. 

Sam bit her lip. “Fine, but where am I gonna sleep? The couch?”

Eve rolled her eyes. “There are two beds in my room. You can sleep in there.”

Vix bid us goodnight, briefly nuzzling against both my chest and Eve’s before darting into her room. Abby and Sierra followed a few minutes later.

“What are the sleeping arrangements there?” Sam asked. “I figure that there are two beds in there as well.”

“Yeah,” I answered, “Sierra and Abigail share a bed, and then Vix has the other.”

Sam cocked her head, confused. “Wouldn't it make more sense for Abigail and Vix to share the bed and Sierra to have a bed to himself.”

“You would think,” I said.

“Yeah, Vix isn't big on the whole ‘sharing’ thing. It took a while to convince her to share the room with the others.” Eve shrugged. 

Eve led Sam into the bedroom. I followed a moment later after flicking off the lights and the TV with only a thought. Eve was already lying on our bed, and Sam was looking around, not really paying attention. I automatically hopped up onto the bed with Eve and laid down next to her. 

“So, Eve, are you and I sharing a bed, and then Slink gets the other one or…” She trailed off as she turned around and saw us on the bed together. She blushed slightly (instead of red her cheeks turned an obnoxious hot pink) before quietly leaping onto the other bed. 

“Goodnight,” she said softly, rolling so her back was to us. I laughed softly to myself before laying my head down. Eve clicked the lamp beside the bed. 

“Night Eve,” I said softly.

“Night Slink.” I heard her echo.

I snuggled down into the bed curling up tighter, and wiggling so that my back was pressed more tightly against Eve. I sighed in contentment as I let myself relax. But no matter how relaxed I felt, I knew I wasn't going to sleep any time soon. 

My brain was racing a million miles an hour. If Eve had tried to listen in on my head now, she probably would only have heard a sharp buzzing. When Sam had come literally bursting into our lives, she had thankfully brought me out of my own head. I hadn't been able to dwell on my own problems. 

Now however, that was all I could think of. I felt a dull ache forming in my stomach as my thoughts eventually strayed towards memories of my family. I shook my head, and tried to refocus, but nothing could distract me. All I could think of was my family, everything seemed to just lead me back to them. So I did something a bit risky.

I didn't think about the fact that Eve’s sister was only a few feet away. I didn't consider that we had never consciously done this before. I didn't think, I acted. I stood up, causing Eve to stiffen beside me. I turned around on the bed trying to make as little noise as possible before I flopped back down curled around her with my belly against her back. 

I lay there completely still for a second as Eve seemed to adjust to my move. Eventually though I felt her relax, melting back into my chest. I hummed happily, pulling her as close as possible and nuzzling the back of her neck. I rubbed my cheek up and down the side of her neck, and even scratched my forehead between her shoulder blades before I finally settled with my head just above hers, with my nose buried in the fur on the back of her neck.

Her scent, sweet like Oran Berries, calmed me in a way that not much else could, and slowly I felt myself able to start drifting off. But as I continued to lay there, with one paw draped over Eve, questions began to spring to mind. What was Eve’s deal with her parents? What had happened to make her run off? She had said that she would tell me later, but then again when was later?

As I lay there, stewing in my own mind I realized that something wasn't right. Something was missing. The night seemed quieter than usual. (Well relatively quieter. Sam was snoring like a sick Rhyhorn.) By now I was used to Eve’s deep even breathing as she slept. Sure I could feel her taking a deep breath every once in a while, but at the same time it wasn't right. Was she even asleep?

I decided to risk it. “Eve?” I breathed as quietly as possible. I didn't want to wake her after all.

“Yeah,” she whispered back.

“Can't sleep?” I asked. “Is it how I’m laying? I can move if you aren't comfortable?”

“No that's not it. I’ve just… got a lot on my mind. That's all.”

“Oh. Me too.” I said.

We were both silent for a while, before Eve broke the silence. “Do you want to talk about it?” I nodded slowly against her back. “Okay, let's head into the other room.”

“Do we have to? I think we could have full out battle in here and she wouldn’t wake up.” We both paused for a moment, letting Sam’s earthquake-like snores echo through the room.

“Arceus, I forgot how loud she is. Besides I wasn’t leaving the room for her benefit.” Eve stood up and crept out of the room. I followed right after her. 

The TV glowed still, which was odd. Hadn’t I turned it off? Eve and I gravitated towards it, like Venomoth to a flame. The sound was low, nearly muted which also seemed odd. That is until we saw who was laying on the couch. 

Sierra was laying sprawled across the entire couch, his head leaning back. His eyes were nearly closed, like he was dozing off, but the second he saw us, he snapped awake immediately.

“Sierra,” Eve asked softly, “what are you doing out here? It’s nearly midnight.”

“I could ask you the same question.” Sierra said evasively.

“We wanted to talk, and we didn’t want to wake up Eve’s sister. Your turn.” 

Sierra shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep, and besides I do this every night?”

“Why?” Eve asked, looking more than a little concerned.

The Absol seemed uncomfortable. “I’m waiting for Vix to fall asleep okay. I’m not quite sure she is comfortable around me, especially in the room while she is sleeping. Whenever we go to bed she stares at me. I try to sleep, but I just see her watching me the whole time. I come out here and wait for her to go to bed before I go back in and try to sleep.”

Eve sighed, almost frustrated. I could completely understand why. It had taken us three days to convince Vix to share the other room with Sierra and Abby. At least she had become friends with Abby rather quickly, but I had hoped she wouldn’t treat Sierra like this. “I’m sorry Sierra.”

“No, its fine. I really don’t mind.” Sierra tried to shrug it off, but I cut him off.

“No, it isn’t fine. You are a part of this team, this family now, and Vix needs to treat you like you are. I’ll talk to her tomorrow. I promise.” Sierra stared at me like a deer in the headlights.

Eve chimed in, saving us from the awkward situation. “I just checked. Vix’s mind is dormant. She is asleep. You should be good to go back in.”

Sierra stretched and hopped off the couch. “Umm, thanks.” He said, sounding as if he wasn’t quite sure what to say. “And Eve, I’m sorry about the way I acted around your sister today-”

“Don’t be. She was out of line, and I completely understand.” Eve smiled at him.

“Oh, right.” He retreated back to the door to his bedroom.

“Sierra,” Eve said before he opened the door. The Absol looked back over his shoulder, confused. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Sierra said with a smile before he escaped into the room.

Eve and I glanced at each other. “We handled that right, correct?”

“I think so,” Eve said biting her lip. “I guess we will find out tomorrow.”

With that out of the way, and the couch now open, we finally got some time to ourselves. We settled down on the couch, curled up on either end, facing each other. I think that was also the point where we both realized that we didn’t exactly have anything to say.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Eve asked tentatively. 

I knew that what I wanted to say was probably not what she wanted to hear, and it was probably crossing a line. But at the same time, I was worried. So I went for it. “Eve, what happened between you and your family? Sam mentioned that your dad told you to do something, that you ran away, and that you haven’t talked to them in a year. What happened?”

Eve’s expression didn’t change all that much, but I saw her brow furrow slightly. She was thinking. Finally she relaxed her expression and met my gaze. “I will tell you, I promised I would, but is that the only thing on your mind?” 

Only as she said it did I realize that there was an odd pressure at the base of my skull. Neither of us had dissolved the connection between our minds after I had snooped in on her conversation with Sam. My thoughts had been entangled with hers and vice-versa.

“Slink,” Eve said, “I will tell you my story, if you tell me yours. What happened that night a year ago? What happened with the Hatred and your family?”

Her request hit me like a punch to the gut, but I knew that she had opened herself up to me so much today, and she was about to show me more. I had no secrets from her. It was time to do this.

“Okay,” I said, “but you have to go first.”

Eve gave me half a smile. “Sure, but I’m going to warn you. There is a lot here, and I go back a long way. This isn’t just my story. It is Shane’s too.” She bit her lip, thinking before she took a deep breath and started her story...


	10. Past, Present, and Future

* * *

* * *

I grew up in a village, Collected Village, on the other side of the Continent. And what makes this village unique was its high population of Eevees and Eeveelutions. Supposedly when the Fire Continent was first discovered, the Wigglytuff Guild over on the Grass Continent decided to send one of its top teams to the new Continent to set up a base there. They wanted to be the first to explore the new Continent. Little did they know that the Expedition Society was already up-and-running and thriving in Festive Town on the opposite coast.

Anyway they sent one of their teams, Team Elements I think they were called, to set up a base. And what made them one of the top teams is that they had eighteen members, all Eeveelutions, with a male and female of every species. And once they got to the Continent they found the Scale mountain range to be nearly impassable. Instead of pressing on, or going back to the Grass Continent they decided to settle down.

So because of its odd origin and its relative isolation my village became, well a bit old fashioned. We were only Eeveelutions for quite a while, but only when other species began to migrate across the Continent did we end up diversifying. But then again we did relegate them to their own section of the village.

Yes I do realize that that was probably part of the problem, Slink. I didn’t make these choices.

But let's get back to me. I was born two years after Sam, and there were about twenty other Eevee kits that were born that year in the village. Of course another was Shane.

I first met him in school. I came in the first day, and naturally my attention was drawn to him. An odd Eevee, with silver fur of all things. I had never seen a shiny before, and so mostly it was curiosity that led me towards the Eevee sitting in the back with nobody around him. Everyone else seemed a bit weirded out by him. I felt bad for him. I wasn’t disgusted, I was curious. Nobody was sitting in any desk adjacent to his, so I decided to be the first.

“Can I sit here?” I asked him. He seemed to tense up for a minute, and then asked something I hadn’t expected.

“Why?” He didn’t look at me. His voice was small, like he didn’t want me to notice or acknowledge him. I was confused, mostly because I had grown up with two siblings and loving parents. His reaction was foreign to me.

“I want to sit here. You look lonely.” He gave me a furtive glance, like he wasn’t expecting that answer.

It was funny. We didn’t talk the rest of the day, and I’m honestly not sure how much he paid attention to everything. He stole glances at me throughout the day, as if he half expected me to suddenly grow a second head and attack him. There was also a desperation in his stare as well. Like he was afraid I would simply disappear. He was so tense next to me. Only later did I find out that his neighbors, two Eevees that were a few years older than us, made fun of him, and even attacked him anytime he left the house. In fact it was only about three years ago that he actually told me about them. So I understand how nervous he was around me at first.

It was that way for a few weeks actually. Everyday I would sit next to him in class, eat next to him at lunch, and even walk around with him at recess. I could tell that he was a bit annoyed with me tagging along, but he also never asked me to leave. I think he was so grateful to be with someone who wasn’t going to insult or yell at him. 

Bullies were a common problem for him. For a while I didn’t understand why? I honestly still don’t. 

Yes Slink I realize that now he has a reputation. He was only a kid then. Calm down.

At recess Eevee of all ages would call out to him. “Hey silverback!” or “Arceus, I think you made a mistake. Take him back.” I think the cruelest attacks were the far more physical ones. 

There was this Machop who was in our grade. I had never liked him considering he was far more brawn than brain. What he did only made me hate him more. We were at recess, Shane trying to hide, and me relentlessly following him around, when the big grey doofus walked up. “Hey silver,” he said smugly, “how are you doing today?”

Shane mumbled something like “go away”. I’m ashamed to say that I stayed back and watched. I didn’t know if these two were friends, or even if this was a normal interaction. 

“I heard a rumor the other day,” the Machop continued, “that your dad was a Ghost Type, and that he scared you so bad that you turned white. Was your dad a Ghost Type? Seems right. I mean it made it easier for him to disappear then!” 

Shane turned his back on the bully, doing everything he could to avoid the conflict. I could also see that he was doing everything he could to stop himself from crying. The Machop wasn’t finished. 

“Hey, I asked you a question,” he said. He lunged forward and caught Shane by his tail. He dragged him backwards across the ground. “You need to listen when I talk to you!” It had rained the night before so there were several large mud puddles all over the schoolyard. The Machop unceremoniously dumped Shane in the largest one he could find.

“You should thank me,” the Machop said as he scooped up a handful of gross, slimy mud. He flung it sideways, the entire fist full splattering across Shane’s face. “Maybe now your fur will be the right color!”

I don’t think I ever felt as much rage and hate as I did in that one moment. I wanted to destroy the Machop, but I only knew Quick attack and Sand attack at the time. I did something else though. I waded through the knee high mud and pulled Shane out of it. He went home early that day to clean up, but we met eyes before he left and he gave me the tiniest nod.

He warmed up to me quickly after that, and we were best friends before the end of the year. We were nearly inseparable at that point. We spent almost all day together at school, and we slept over at his house several times a week. Usually he invited me over for dinner and to do homework, and we’d work so late that I’d just sleep over.

I would have returned the favor and invited him to my house, but, well, my parents didn’t like him. I don’t think they approved of him really. They would always scowl at him whenever they saw him. I never really understood and, as you saw tonight, my sisters never liked him either.

That doesn’t mean that I didn’t get along with my family. Honestly the only thing we really disagreed on was Shane. Otherwise my parents were really calm, and stayed out of my business for the most part. 

I guess I should tell you a bit more about my family. I mean you already know about my siblings, so I should tell you about my parents. Well, my mom is a Glaceon, and her name is Nadine. She had actually moved to the village from the Sand Continent of all places. My father had lived in that village his whole life.

Actually my father is what my village calls a “legacy”. Essentially he is a direct descendant of one of the original eighteen. My father is a Leafeon, as was his father, and his father, and back and back and back to the male Leafeon that helped found the village. It became a tradition that at least one male in every generation has to become a Leafeon in order to keep the tradition alive. Oh, and his name is Royal by the way.

Shane’s parents were also really cool. Well his parent. His mom was the sweetest Pokemon I have ever met. She was a Flareon, a bit older than my parents, who you could tell loved Shane with all of her heart. It made me happy. The town didn’t exactly treat her right, especially since Shane was her son, but she dealt with it, and never gave up on her kid.

Yeah, you would have liked her, Slink. You actually remind me of her. It’s funny really.

So life was good, and as the years passed I was content. Things never really happened with me and Shane. I kinda developed a crush on him, but he didn’t really feel the same way. And while we were best friends, that came with its own problems.

I guess if you only had one real friend you would call them your best friend. To be fair, there were a few non-eeveelutions in our class who weren’t complete jerks to him, but they were also targets of bullies. Especially the only other legacy in my year, an Eevee named Jolt. You can probably guess who his father was descended from. Shane only told me years later that Jolt was one of his bullies, and that he “punished” anyone who was nice to Shane. I’m fairly certain that it was only my status as the daughter of a legacy that saved me.

I had a few friends other than Shane, but most if not all of them were ones that my parents had nudged me towards. The ones with “proper breeding” they had said. These Eevees never really rose above acquaintance level with me.

No, my parents definitely won’t like that we’re partners Slink. No offense. That is partially why I’m not going to talk to them anytime soon. Especially after Sam tells on us.

But everything changed when we both evolved. You already know how I evolved, and since it was an accident I actually evolved a few months before most of my class. It was honestly really strange to be that much bigger than all of my classmates so quickly. Plus now my Psychic powers made class much more interesting. There was this one day when I kept stealing Jolt’s pencils from him. He thought he kept losing them and he had to borrow from everyone in class. 

I evolved almost a year before Shane. And Shane’s evolution was truly...horrible.

Around a month after I evolved Shane’s mom, Melissa, started getting sick. It started off almost normal. She just had an occasional bad cough, but she still seemed her kind, bubbly self whenever Shane and I stayed over. But as time went on, it slowly got worse. 

The cough got worse, and happened more and more frequently. She got completely lost at random times. Once when I went over for dinner she completely forgot that she was cooking and she nearly burned down the house. She started fainting, passing out randomly. She got bad headaches, and had to stay in bed for several days at a time. The worst was the vomiting. Shane would run away to my house because he simply couldn’t watch her be violently sick anymore.

That was the first and only time I saw my community treating that family right. Every day someone, somebody from town, would bring over dinner for Shane and Melissa. Most of the time they were the non-eeveelutions, but some of the eeveelutions did. I even convinced my mom to help out once or twice. Older Eeveelutions went over and took care of Melissa while Shane was at school. They helped raise money for Melissa’s doctor. The whole village was helping, and for a while, it seemed like Melissa was getting better.

And then one night, Shane knocked on my window waking me up. I let him in, extremely worried. I lived on the second floor, so I knew he had to be desperate. There was a horrible storm. The wind was howling and sheets of rain were flooding down from the heavens. He collapsed to the floor soaked to the skin and shaking from cold, from fear, from grief? I still have no idea. Tears streamed down his snout, but I didn’t notice because of how wet he was. I ran off to get him a towel, and when I returned he was in the exact same spot staring off into space with a blank expression. Obviously I was concerned, but I didn’t know what to do for him. I didn’t know what was wrong. So I just laid there next to him, waiting for him to calm down. Eventually he was able to choke out two words. 

“She’s gone.”

We still don’t know what happened. She seemed to be doing fine, she was getting better, but apparently it hadn’t been enough. She took a bad turn, and didn’t take it well. 

The funeral was the next day. We buried her in the town graveyard, just south of the village. I sat with Shane through the entire ceremony, just being there for him as he dealt with everything. I held his tail in mine the entire time. It rained that day, as though even Arceus was sad that Melissa was gone. Honestly it wasn’t fair, but what were we supposed to do?

I sat with Shane for as long as I could, long past when everyone had gone home. Shane cried on and off, his shoulders heaving with every sob. I thought about using my new Psychic powers to try and help him, perhaps lock up his bad memories for a day or two and let him adjust, but I couldn’t. His thoughts were so tangled up and Dark that I could just barely sense his mind. As night fell, I had to go home, and I begged him to do the same. I told him to go home and get some sleep. Beating himself up wasn’t healthy, and it wouldn’t change anything.

I now know that he didn’t. I now know that he spent the night right there, sleeping next to his mother’s grave. I know now that that is the night he evolved. I know it is selfish of me, but I hated the fact that he had become an Umbreon. It felt like another kick in the teeth from the universe. He couldn’t have become a Glaceon or a Leafeon? At least then it would have been much harder to figure out that he was shiny. But again he couldn’t catch a break, and those blue rings became another bane in his life.

It took him quite a while to recover, and even longer to get used to his new powers. Kind of like your Fire, Dark Type moves are fueled by emotions, but more poisonous emotions. Sadness, fear, anger. His state at that time wasn’t exactly conducive to his new powers.

It was also around that time that the village showed their true colors. We should have known that they were only helping out because they liked Melissa. All of that kindness and compassion that they had shown disappeared almost overnight. There were one or two people who tried to help Shane, and of course I did all I could, but the village turned their backs on him once again. It didn’t help that his powers would burst out randomly whenever he got upset.

It was five years after that when we first started talking about leaving. We were in our secret spot in the woods that day. He had skipped school (again) but we had met up like we always did here. He barely spent any time in his house anymore, and it wasn’t like I could take him to mine considering… well everything.

“Shane,” I scolded once I saw him. “You have got to go to school! You can’t just skip whenever you want to.”

“Why not?” He grumbled. “What are my odds of actually getting a job in this stupid town even if I have an education.” 

“I don’t know. There are plenty of jobs. I’m certain that in the non-eeveelution districts…”

“Oh so in order to live my life I have to change.” He was angry. He had been angry for a while, but he seemed angrier than I had ever seen him. “That is idiotic. Meanwhile you have everyone tripping over themselves to give you whatever you want!”

“Shane, I -”, but he cut me off.

“I am sick of it. Sick of this…” and then he said a word I refuse to repeat.

No Slink it wasn’t that word. This wasn’t an invitation to guess.

“...town. And these abhorrent people. I’m done with all of these Pokémon who think they are better than everyone else simply because their great-great-great- whatevers crashed their boat here!”

“My great-great- whatevers crashed their boat here. If you are so sick of them then maybe I should go!” I turned to leave, but he ran in front of me, cutting me off. 

“Wait, Eve! I’m sorry.” He hung his head. “Jolt trashed my house again this morning. That is why I didn’t go to school today. I didn’t mean to take it out on you, but I was being honest. I am sick of it.”

“Shane, I get it. But what are you going to do. Maybe you could move to the non-eeveelution districts, but still. I’m not sure how much better it would be there.”

“I wasn’t planning on moving to the non-eevee districts. I was thinking a bit bigger than that.”

“Shane? What are you…?”

“I’m leaving. I’m going and I’m never looking back.”

“But Shane,” I said feeling a pit form in my stomach at the thought of losing him, “where will you go?”

He thought for a moment. “I’m going to join the Expedition Society!”

I waited for him to laugh. Joining the Society had been a joke for us the last couple of years. I had always wanted to see the world, and he had wanted to get away for a while. But neither of us were confident enough to leave. At least we weren’t.

“Shane, you can’t!” I tried to argue, but I realized that I didn’t have any reason that he should stay. There was nothing tying him here, and I hated that. He had every reason to go.

“Of course I can? Why should I stay here?” he snapped, voicing my worst nightmare. “Besides nobody would care. Nobody would miss me!”

“I would,” I muttered under my breath.

We were both silent for a moment. Neither of us really knew what to say. 

“Then come with me.” Shane said.

“Shane, I can’t. My parents are here. My whole life is here.”

“Didn’t you say that you wanted to see the world? To help people? What would you do if you stayed here?” He was right. I had never thought about it before. School was nearly over, and once I graduated I would probably join my father’s courier business like Sam had. I hadn’t considered anything else.

“I won’t be seventeen for another six months.” I said. “They won’t let us join until then.”

“I can wait,” Shane said excitedly. “Does that mean yes?”

I smiled. “I guess it does.”

“Yes,” he exclaimed. He did what I can only describe as a victory dance. He stomped his feet and spun in circles. “Damn, I love you Eve!” 

We both froze as we realized what he had said. I felt a tingle in my stomach. It was finally happening! “Oh, I’m...Arceus I… Eve I meant…”

I shut him up as I nuzzled against him. “I love you too Shane.” He was tense for a moment as I nuzzled him, then he relaxed. We stayed there till nightfall. Snuggling.

I barely remember the next six months. It all felt like a giant preamble to the next chapter of our lives. I bought my bag with my savings and stocked up on all of the supplies we would need. Shane packed up some stuff from his house, but he left most of it behind. I guess he was planning on forgetting. He did take one thing though. The Dark stone. Apparently it was something that his father had given his mother when they had become mates. He gave it to me off all people, and asked me to be his partner. No offense Slink, but that was one of the best nights of my life. 

I guess this one counts too. Come on Slink, are you jealous?

From there, we both just had to wait for my birthday, the day we would both be seventeen and old enough to join the Expedition Society.

And then of course, everything hit the fan.

It was the night before we had planned on leaving, we were actually leaving a few weeks early because the town was getting twitchy. It was several things really. There had been a drought the previous summer, crops were dying, a whole bunch more people were getting sick (although no one else had died up until that point). Everything boiled over that night though when one huge thing happened. The mayor had caught a cold earlier that week, but that night he… he died. He was an old Vaporeon legacy that everyone loved. And from what I learned later, it seemed to be the same sickness that killed Shane’s mother.

Of course I didn’t know it at the time, I was sound asleep. But around midnight, something woke me up. It was the sounds of hundreds of Pokemon running down the street. A harsh orange light filled my room, flickering, sending sharp shadows projecting onto my walls. Blearily I crawled out of bed, drawn to the window almost unconsciously. Down in the street, a huge crowd of Pokemon marched. Fires burned within the crowd, some of them were torches, but a few were being produced by the Pokemon. Flareons’ manes burned like pitch. Jolteons occasionally let out a burst of lightning, flashes of blue and yellow among the orange glow. There were non-Eeveelutions too. Lucarios, a Charizard, even a few Gogoats their horns glowing an eerie green color.

I didn’t know what they were doing, but I didn’t want to be left out. I slipped out the window and leapt across the rooftops trying to keep up with the mob. Several times I had to use Psychic to levitate over some of the larger gaps. We were heading towards the center of town, and that was all I had to go off of. Had something happened? And what was this mob doing

Soon enough we reached the town square, where it seemed like the whole population of the town was gathered. It was like a massive pool of creatures all gathered around the fountain in the center of the square. 

I had always loved the fountain, because it was our history. It was circular with stone effigies of all nine eeveelutions facing outward. All nine of their tails wound together, creating the spout. As long as I had lived in that town, the fountain had been active twenty-four, seven. But for the first time, that night, it was dormant and dry. From what I could tell there was a quadruped Pokemon standing on the head of the Eevee statue. At first I assumed, perhaps naively, that someone was perhaps giving a speech or something, but then I saw it. The glowing blue rings, as bright as any of the torches the mob carried. It could only be one Pokémon. Shane, what had happened?

After I came to this realization, I noticed what I had been blind to before. Shane wasn’t standing still. He couldn’t. Anyone in the mob who had any sort of long-range attack was taking potshots at Shane whenever they could. The entwined tails of the Eeveelutions had been blown off, the Jolteon was missing it’s left ear, the Espeon was missing it’s front left leg. You get the picture. But the worst was the Umbreon which was, quite deliberately, missing it’s head. 

Thankfully Shane was agile enough and tough enough to survive, but the crowd fell silent and still as a huge, hulking figure began to wade through the crowd. It was the chief of police from our village, a gigantic Blastoise with a mega stone hanging from a chord around his neck. Instead of instantly blowing Shane away, he stopped when he reached the rim of the dry fountain, turned around, and addressed the crowd.

“Please, ladies and gentlemen, let's try and keep this civil. As an officer of the law…” he loved to shove that in people’s faces, “...I cannot condone these actions. Who are we to take up the mantle of Judge, Jury, and Executioner upon ourselves?” The crowd stared at each other, looking confused. Was he actually protecting Shane?

I didn’t let my guard down for a second. That Blastoise had never been a big fan of Shane. He was up to something.

“However,” the turtle continued, “today has been a strange day. What happens when someone gets sick?” Before anyone in the crowd could answer he plowed on. He was making a point, but I couldn’t figure out what it was yet. “We cordon them away from us. We send them home from work or school. We keep a safe distance from them. We take measures to protect ourselves, even if it is at the expense of others. It is a necessary evil. But once the sickness has passed, we welcome the victim back to us with open arms.”

At that moment my attention was snatched away by a slight moment in the corner of my eye. Someone, I was only able to make out a flicker of shadow, had darted across the rooftops to my right. I wanted to go investigate, but the Blastoise was busy whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

“But what about a victim who doesn’t show his sickness. Who spreads it to innocent people, forcing them away, killing them, with no repercussions to themselves? What is their punishment?” He suddenly turned to face Shane. His voice rising to almost a scream. “You who have killed the mayor and your own mother, who operates outside the rules. I may be a man of law, but you kill outside of it. There should be no protection for you. Those blue stripes were a sign from Arceus. Beware of this one, he is deadly.” He turned back to the crowd. “Let us rid this town of this scourge, once and for all!” 

He suddenly started to glow with a bright white light, his body cocooned in energy. The light grew brighter as the figure encased within grew larger. Eerie music filled the air as he transformed. With a rainbow-colored explosion, the Mega-Blastoise roared as he primed himself to turn the Umbreon before him into little more than a red smear on the back of a statue. 

But Shane wasn’t going down without a fight. I could almost sense him gathering energy the whole time Blastoise had been speaking, his anger and fear only giving him more power to draw from. Just as the Blastoise was about to strike him down, Shane exploded. A burst of thick, oily, black smoke shot from his form in all directions. Darkness poured from him until the entire square had been filled with thick, black smoke. 

A small whiff of it rose high enough for me to get a taste, and I immediately felt unsteady on my feet. My head felt like it was a hundred pounds. Dark Void, I realized. He was trying to put everyone to sleep. But something was amiss here. At that moment I didn’t question it, but now… I don’t care how afraid or angry Shane was at that point. Under no circumstances could he have actually created that Dark Void alone. 

The smoke cleared about as quickly as it had come, but the damage was done. Most of the crowd had simply keeled over where they stood. It was almost beautiful in a way, the entire town sleeping peacefully within the square.

Well, most of the town. There were still a few Pokemon who were really confused, but were still standing. A few Glaceons, a Lucario, a Persian and a few others were ready to fight. That is until I put them to sleep as well. I focused in on as many awake minds that I could and sent a small burst of Psychic energy into all of them. Before any of them could say “Hypnosis” they were on the ground snoring with the rest of them.

Shane looked around for a minute. It was actually a bit comical. He was equal parts happy that the people who were trying to kill him had simply dropped like flies, but at the same time he wasn’t sure if his “savior” was gunning for him next. It didn’t take him too long to spot me up the rooftop. “I think we should leave tonight.” I shouted down to him.

In light of everything that had just happened, somehow he had retained his sense of humor. “Great idea Eve. However did you come up with it?”

No Slink, I don’t look for sarcasm in my potential partners. Apparently I just attract it.

I ignored him. “We have to stop by my house and grab my bag. Is there anything you want to-“

He cut me off, “-No. I don’t want to remember anything about this village.” 

The amount of venom in his voice made me a little nervous.

I carefully jumped down from my rooftop. He hopped down from the fountain and met at the head of the street that led to my house, careful to step on as many sleeping Pokemon as possible. As I waited for him I looked around, wondering how all of these people could even consider killing Shane. My heart sank as I recognized the forms of my parents curled up together. I felt a little betrayed. Thankfully I didn’t see either of my sisters in the crowd, or at least I couldn’t find them.

Of course this made our brief pitstop at my house way easier. I simply ran in, grabbed my bag, and left out the note explaining what Shane and I had done where my parents could find it. I didn’t think about how much I would miss the place. My friend’s life was in danger. I had bigger Magikarp to splash. 

As we left town, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched. I know it sounds ridiculous, most of the town was asleep at this point. I’m still not sure if it was Psychic, or instinct, or Arceus trying to warn me, but nonetheless the paranoia washed over me to the point where I forced Shane to duck into an alley.

“Eve, what’s going on?” He sounded a bit tense, almost angry. I hushed him and peeked back around the corner. Somehow we had decided to hide at just the right time. Almost exactly at that moment I saw someone (I ducked back behind the corner before I could get a good look at them) strut into the street, looking around carefully. Slowly I reached out with my mind, simply trying to sense theirs. 

One was definitely a Jolteon, I was used to the shape and “color” I guess of their minds. The second one took me only a moment to identify, considering I only had to poke at it slightly before his mind just let me in. Fighting Type, Machoke. The third one though I honestly could not make any headway with. That really only told me one thing, it wasn’t an Eeveelution.

“Jolt!” A gruff, deep voice called out. “I think I saw something this way.” My heart climbed up into my throat. Was it us? Were they headed our way? Where had these guys even come from? I closed my eyes and spread out my Psychic senses. My stomach fell out, the two minds I could identify were headed towards our hiding spot, while the third, the one I couldn’t place, stayed behind. I would have been more curious, but I was fearing for my life at the moment.

I held my breath and pressed myself as close to the wall as I could, hoping that these guys simply wouldn’t notice us. I was wrong. 

I felt myself ripped from the ground as a meaty hand grabbed the scruff of my neck and pulled me in the air. “Jolt, Rob, I found him.” I kicked and hissed, but the Machoke held me at just the right angle that I couldn’t get to him. Looking over I saw that Shane was in the exact same situation as I was. 

The other two revealed themselves. A Jolteon and… a Vaporeon? That wouldn’t have been even in my top five hundred guesses of who the third person in this posse would be. Their mind had felt strangely slippery. It was there, but I couldn’t grasp it. Then I realized something perhaps a touch less important, but no less problematic. Jolt? Oh no.

“Hey Shaney,” the Jolteon looked gleeful, but in the same way a psychopath looks gleeful before he slips a blade between your ribs, “did you know that there are about a hundred people back that way that are looking for you?”

“And why aren’t you with them?” Shane snapped. I tried to shoot him a look that perhaps he should try and be a little nicer to the people who were holding us hostage. 

“Oh well, we weren’t quite eager enough I guess to actually be in the Town Square, although I must be honest; attacking you sure looked like a lot of fun. No, we couldn’t get close, but it did mean that we weren’t in range when you and your friend here put the whole town to sleep. I like to look on the bright side, now it is just the two of us.”

“By my count there are five of us. If you wanted some alone time with me all you have to do is ask,” Shane growled angrily. Jolt’s expression immediately turned sour.

Jolt glanced up at the Machoke holding us. “I think Shaney could do with a little knocking about before we turn him over to the mob. Don’t you Mach?”

The Machoke nodded, but Shane huffed and rolled his eyes. “Sure, fine, go ahead. But can we hurry this up. Eve and I had plans for this evening.” 

“Wait, Mach. Hold up.” Jolt’s leering grin had returned. “I don’t think softening up Shane will do that much for him. But the girl…”

“Don’t you dare!” Shane snarled, trying to rip himself free from the Machoke’s grip. I simply rolled my eyes. Stupid boys, didn’t they realize that I was a Psychic Type being held aloft by a Fighting Type. My eyes and gem flared with purple light as I burrowed my way into the Machoke’s head and started kicking around in his mind. 

He roared in pain almost instantly. He dropped Shane, clutching his head, but what he did next actually surprised me. He didn’t drop me. As he reeled back, he threw me, slung me overhead and let go. The world spun around me before I felt myself slam into something hard, feet first. 

My back legs instantly snapped, pointing in directions that I doubt even a Ditto could achieve. Time seemed to freeze, I had about three seconds before the pain hit me and, if I didn’t go into shock, I would be worse then paralyzed. I had one move, and that was it.

I still had some of my Psychic power inside of the Machoke, and I could potentially take him out with little issue, but my problem would be finishing him before I became incapacitated. As I fell, I connected the Psychic energy in his head to the brick wall beside him; pink tendrils poked out from his head like tentacles, latching onto the wall. Before anyone could do anything to stop me, I shortened the tentacles, slamming his head into the wall as hard as I could. The ground shook as the Machoke toppled. Then the world went white as I finally hit the ground.

It was agony, it was torture. But somewhere in the back of my mind I knew Shane was still in danger. I knew that the others would most likely leave me alone, but I couldn’t just leave Shane. While I knew it would probably be easier to just pass out and lose touch of reality, I clawed my way back to awareness.

I was laying on my back, by ruined legs in the air. My head lay back at an odd angle, and I could just barely see what was happening, but that was fine by me. I wasn’t about to move just to see better.

The Jolteon, had encased himself in a sphere of electricity. Rogue bolts and sparks shot from his shield forcing Shane to dance and dodge to avoid being fried. The Machoke was still unconscious, and the third member, the mysterious Vaporeon, held back for some reason. And the more I looked at him, the more I noticed a strange Darkness radiating from him. It reminded me of when a Kirlia who was in my class for years demonstrated her Psychic powers to me just after I evolved. She had condensed a point of space to the point that it had become a black hole. This Vaporeon was a black hole, his presence seemed to strain the space around him.

Before I could process what I had seen, Jolt decided that he had had enough. He roared as he stamped one of his forepaws on the ground. His electric barrier that he had maintained and charged up to this point was instantly sucked into his body. His fur flickered with sparks, and seemed to glow with an inner light, before he threw his head back as the electricity exploded out from him. A net of lightning shot from him in all directions, the electricity exploding whenever it struck something. Shane tried to call up a Dark pulse to counter, or at least dampen the blow, but the lightning tore through his shadow and exploded directly in his face.

Shane collapsed instantly, convulsing on the ground. I tried to reach out with my mind, tried to somehow absorb some of that electricity but I couldn’t touch him, I couldn’t even find him with my power. Jolt walked up to the completely exhausted Shane and placed a paw on his chest. “Honestly I expected more from you little Shaney. Do you not want to play our game anymore? Do you quit? Because if you quit, well…” he held up a paw and unsheathed his claws, “you get it.” His expression suddenly changed, becoming that insane twisted grin. “Goodbye little Shaney!”

He swung, there was a flash of black and red, and I heard a scream. I didn’t dare look away, I’m not sure I even could. But nothing happened to Shane. Jolt on the other hand had a look of complete horror on his face as his paw, the one with the claws unsheathed, slowly sagged on his wrist before it toppled off and fell to the street below. Jolt opened up his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

Before anyone could register what just happened, there was another flash of black and red that slammed into the Jolteon, both of them rolling off into the street. Shane shakily got to his feet as ozone seemed to fill the air. With a bright flash of electricity, the two figures separated and I finally got a good look at this new player. I didn’t know him then, I didn’t realize how dangerous he could be at the time. Now I’d recognize the shiny Greninja, Smoke, in a heartbeat.

Jolt charged up another electric shield, green-yellow energy creating a halo around him. “Rob, I’ll take this newcomer. You get that Umbreon!”

Rob, the Vaporeon, nodded. He tilted his head back, priming for an attack. Shane had just barely managed to get to his feet. I tried to do anything, but I had no Psychic energy left, and I couldn’t get up. I met eyes with the Vaporeon who grinned, red eyes flashing. Red eyes?

Rob turned so he was facing Jolt, and released his attack. However, instead of a stream of water, a wall of flames exploded from the Vaporeon. Jolt didn’t even have enough time to be surprised. The flames consumed him, and he collapsed. 

Everything was silent, except for Shane’s heavy breathing, and a slight crackle as the last of the flames died out. “You cut it a bit close there Moon,” the Greninja cooed. His voice, you know how it is; calm and soothing, like waves on the shore. It took me a minute to realize he was talking to the Vaporeon. 

Rob? Or was it Moon? I didn’t even know at that point - frowned, and in a clearly feminine voice said, “Sorry, but to be fair, the look on his face was priceless!” He/She/It grinned before that distortion, that stain I had seen earlier began to spread outward from the Vaporeon, shrouding him in distorting shadows before fading away just as quickly as they had come. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see a Zoroark standing there in his place. She ran her claws through her mane of purple fur and sighed. She shot me a look. “I don’t know how you quadrupeds do it.” She braced her hands on her lower back and stretched. “That posture always hurts my back.”

The Greninja remained silent, not acknowledging anything the Zoroark was saying. “What did you do with the Vaporeon?”

“Don’t worry about it. I took care of him. The three of us will be long gone before anyone here finds him.”

The Greninja opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment Shane must have reached his breaking point. “What the hell is happening? Who are you? And what do you mean the three of us?” Suddenly he turned to me. “Were you in on this? We could have been killed!”

Smoke moved faster than I thought possible. He grabbed onto the scruff of fur on Shane’s back and pulled him into the air. “You need to calm down.”

“Chill out, little guy,” Moon assured, “she isn’t with us. In fact we would have had you out of here much earlier if she hadn’t gotten involved.” She glared at me, as if the whole town trying to kill Shane was somehow my fault.

“Wait, you said you would have me out of here. I’m not going with you. Why would I? Eve and I are going to join the Expedition Society!”

“Shane, have you ever left this village?” Moon asked shaking her head. 

“Well, no, but that is why we are leaving. To join the Society and see the world.”

Moon gave a hollow laugh. “If only it were that easy. I hate to break it to you, but the Society won’t let you join.” 

“No,” Shane argued, “we are of age, and as long as we do enough contracts they have to take us.”

“Ugh,” the Greninja snapped shaking Shane around before lifting him to eye level, “do you not get it? Look at Moon and me. See a problem?”

Shane regarded them both before he realized. “You’re different...like me.”

“The correct term is ‘shiny’,” Moon prompted, “but yes, we are like you. And what you’ve experienced in this village… it’s just like the rest of the world.”

“What do you mean?” Shane looked crushed. 

“The rest of the world doesn’t like shinies either. Take it from us. We have experienced what you have here. We know.”

“So what do we do?” Shane asked, glancing over at me. “Obviously I can’t stay here anymore, and you say we can’t go to the Society, so…”

“There is an option for those like us,” Moon said slowly, “and Smoke and I are here to offer you a place on our team.”

“Hatred?” I gasped. Everyone looked over at me, as though they were just realizing that I was there. 

“You’ve heard of us,” Smoke smirked.

“Shane, you can’t go with them. They kidnap people, they kill people!”

“Only in self-defense,” Moon interjected, “besides we don’t ‘kidnap’, we do what we were going to do for you. We simply rescue them from these horrible lives.”

The Umbreon still seemed uncertain. “You guys want me to join your team, but I assume Eve won’t be able to join.”

“Of course not,” Smoke grumbled, “she isn’t like us.” 

“But—“ Shane tried to argue, but was cut off. 

“She can’t understand us, what we’ve been through.” Moon’s eyes narrowed as she glared at me. “Besides, why would you want her with us.”

“What are you talking about?” Shane nearly shouted. “She’s my best friend!”

“You sure about that?” Moon taunted. “What about when your mother died? Did she invite you to come live with her? Did she stay with you, perhaps stay up with you to make sure you were okay? And then what about tonight? Where was she when all of these people tried to kill you? She was content to watch from the rooftops as the crowd took potshots at you. Only once we put most of the crowd to sleep was she willing to help out.” It was only afterward that I wondered how Moon had known about all of this.

“Stop,” Shane protested, but he didn’t sound sure of himself anymore, “this isn’t fair to Eve!”

But it was, because it was all true. I hadn’t invited him to live with me. I was convinced that he would be more miserable dealing with my disapproving parents than living alone, and he had never said otherwise. As for that night, well it was true. I wasn’t brave enough to try and help. I was worried that striking, making any move against the crowd, would turn their wrath on me. Guilt burned in my stomach and I felt myself unable to meet Shane’s gaze.

“She only cares for herself.” Moon purred to Shane. “She left you to fend for yourself, she nearly let you die tonight to keep herself safe. Does she even know what this prick—“ Moon gave Jolt a sharp kick, “—did to you everyday? How much he tormented you. She’s just like everyone else who abandoned you when you needed help. You were just a curiosity to her. She’s just like the rest of them.”

I could tell Shane was conflicted. He didn’t believe for a second that I wasn’t his friend. I knew for a fact that he still probably loved me. But at the same time, he didn’t know how much was true. What he should believe.

“The Expedition Society, they’ll treat me the same way these people do?” He shook his head. “I guess I really only have one option left.” He turned to face Smoke, his expression twisting into that scowl he always seems to have now. “You say Team Hatred is the only place for us. Prove it.” He was almost begging by this point. “Show me this place with people who understand.”

Moon and Smoke smiled, they smiled like a child on the morning of the Festival of Xerneas. “Excellent choice,” Smoke said. “We need to get going soon, Pokemon are waking up from that Dark Void as we speak. Besides, we have a long way to go before we reach Team Hatred HQ. Are you ready Shane?”

“Let’s go.” He was solemn about it. Moon and Smoke immediately turned and led the way down the street and out of town. Shane followed a few steps behind. I saw him halfway glance back before he shook his head and continued on. The last I saw of him was his back, trotting behind two killers, believing that I had never been his friend.

I laid in that alley for a long while after that before someone eventually found me. I know I blacked out at least once. But the physical pain wasn’t the only thing that was torture. It was the idea that my best friend, the one who I had tried to protect and care for had abandoned me in an alley next to two dead or unconscious Pokémon to take the blame. It was at that moment that I realized and accepted that my friend was gone. Shane was gone. Only the Hatred was left.

Eventually the townspeople found me and put me in jail. The mayor was dead, and the leader of the city guard was whipping everyone into a frenzy. It was complete anarchy up there, and honestly I was somewhat pleased to be in jail. I was in there for three days before someone came to get me. Thank Arceus that I learned Morning Sun on the dawn of the first day. That way my legs were almost good as new when they came and got me.

Unfortunately things only got worse. They informed me that Rob, Jolt, and Mach had all been found dead. Moon had mentioned that she was going to take care of Rob, but I didn’t think it would be anything like this. They kept me down there for almost another week while they tried to assemble a court in order to try me for murder. 

Finally my parents came to rescue me. Apparently a more detailed autopsy had discovered that Mach had been killed by someone slitting his throat (something I couldn’t have done with broken legs), Rob had been suffocated by a Dark Type move (again that cleared me), and Jolt was missing a paw, and had burned to death (again, not me) so they had no choice but to let me go.

When I got home… my father had been distant and silent the whole way. I should have known that something was going to go down. My mother was waiting for us in the entryway when we got home. She was crying, and holding a scrap of paper. My note!

“What the hell were you thinking Eve!” my father roared.

“Royal,” my mom protested, but father cut her off.

“No Nadine, I’m not excusing this. Eve your mother and I told you so many times to stay away from that monster-”

I couldn’t help myself. “-Shane. His name is Shane.”

“Shane then,” my father snarled, “does it really matter? Because of him three innocent people were killed. Not including the Mayor or his own mother. He killed a legacy! You were hurt, and he left you!”

“You were all about to kill him! Most of it was self defense! And do you really think that he would kill his mother? Besides that ‘legacy’ that is so important to you was a bully and tortured him everyday. I didn’t want him to die, but honestly he deserved what he got!”

My father was livid. His voice grew deathly silent and he was practically trembling with rage. “And now your partner is a member of Team Hatred. Way to pick them Eve.”

This was the one argument I couldn’t refute. He had to have known that the Hatred were murderers and kidnappers. How could he have picked them over me?

My father must have sensed my defeat. “Eve, go up to your room! We’ll talk later.”

They grounded me. For almost a year. Honestly it was closer to house arrest than a parental punishment. I had aided and abetted a fugitive. According to the new mayor, that Blastoise, at least. I wasn’t allowed to leave the house without supervision for a whole year. Meanwhile on the news Shane had been spotted several times with the Hatred. Meowth was at it again. It hurt every time I saw him, not even considering how my family looked at me everytime he appeared even though he hadn’t been confirmed to have killed anyone. 

So my year of isolation was long and boring. Of course I would have snuck out a few times, but without Shane to run around with it really wasn’t that fun. I lived like a hermit that year, and despite everything I didn’t really blame my parents. They just wanted to protect me, my freedom be damned. 

Does that sound familiar Slink? Oh really? I thought so.

After a year of imprisonment I didn’t really care what anyone thought anymore. It was time. I was going to the Expedition Society. I grabbed my bag, left a note on my bed explaining where I had gone, and then I snuck out the window and got the hell out of town! 

Yes, that was when I ran into you Slink. Wait, actually there was one more thing.

It was the night before I met you actually. I had just left a really nice village northwest of where I met you, where I was asking directions to Festive Town. Everyone had told me to go south in order to avoid a particularly nasty Mystery Dungeon just outside of town. They also warned me that the Hatred had been spotted southeast of town, and that I should be careful. I didn’t tell them that I wasn’t afraid, or that I knew someone in the Hatred. That would have been bad.

That night I set up camp in a small clearing in the same woods just a few miles west from the cave where I found you. Digging a nest was easy, but it took me forever to start a fire. You honestly don’t know how relieved I was when you and Vix joined the team.

Anyway I had just managed to light the fire when I felt someone else enter the clearing. You know how sometimes you can identify a person simply by their aura, the feeling they bring with them when they enter a room? Well I could tell almost instantly who it was. “Hello Shane,” I said softly.

I turned around and there he was. Except, he wasn’t. He looked… hollower than usual. Shane was still there, but it wasn’t all him. It was like someone else had taken up residence in his body. I guess this was about a day after the Hatred was at your house. I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

“Eve,” he said tentatively, “I only heard, just the other day, that you left town.” He looked worried, but at the same time confident.

“Yeah, I decided that I’d had enough. I ran away to join the Expedition Society. Sound familiar Shane?” He reeled back like I had hit him. He tried to protest that he hadn’t wanted to abandon me, but I made sure to cut him off. In that year I had spent trapped in my house, I had realized something. I was done feeling sorry for Shane. He obviously meant more to me than I did to him. I had helped him as much as I could and he just left.

I told him to leave. I told him to leave and never talk to me again. I was done with him. He didn’t try to argue, or apologize. I turned around again to tend the fire, and when I looked back he was gone.

* * *

* * *

Eve shook her head, still stewing in her anger. I felt a pit in my stomach, and I knew I had to say what was on my mind. “I don’t think he stopped loving you.” I remembered back to the two times we had encountered Shane. The first time he had made sure that nobody had gone after Eve. The Hatred only chased me and Vix. The second time, he had almost begged her to come with him while his teammates captured me, Vix, and Abby. 

“I know,” Eve pouted before her anger flared up again. “But he has also shown that he will always pick the Hatred before me!” I knew exactly what she was talking about. They were two of the most terrifying moments of my life. When Shane had allowed Eve to be hurt to get to me. I could still see her neck clamped between his jaws, still feel the sticky wetness spreading across my back as I tried to rush Eve to the hospital. She was right, he had made his choice.

There was a tense silence between us as we both realized what was coming next. I felt a pit growing in my stomach as the time came for me to tell the story. “Well, now I owe you my story, don’t I?”

“That was the deal,” Eve said, although she also seemed to be dreading it. 

I took a deep breath. “I just want to warn you now. This is...hard for me to… to remember. To try and put into words. Just please bear with me. I may lose control, but…

Eve blinked as she registered what I was saying. “Slink, you don’t have to tell me your story if you don’t want to. I don’t need to know. If you just need a shoulder to cry on, or simply a friend to be with, we can do that instead.”

I shook my head, but I felt my heart pound and my breath come faster. “No, you told me your secret. Fair’s fair. Besides, I need to get this out in the air and off of my chest. Maybe then I can start to forget.”Eve placed a paw on my shoulder. “Whatever you need. I’m here. But can I suggest? Don’t forget. Heal.”

I nodded before closing my eyes. “This probably won’t be easy for me to say. I’ve kept this locked up inside for so long that I don’t know what to think anymore. Just hang on.”

I took a deep shuddering breath before I began my story…

* * *

It was nearly midnight when my father shook me awake. “Slink,” he had whispered, “Slink, you have to get up!” I don’t remember what I had been dreaming or what I was thinking about when I woke up. I just know that I immediately locked onto the urgency in his voice.

“What’s going-?” I tried to ask before he clamped one of his paws around my muzzle. This shock helped me wake up and take in his appearance. He didn’t look good.

His fur was bedraggled, sticking up every which way. The thick patches of red fur that hung from his ears were badly matted (he ran his hands down them whenever he was nervous). In the paw that wasn’t clamped over my mouth he held his wand aloft; an eighteen inch twig taken from the aspen tree that grew outside of his childhood home. The tip was ablaze, but the Fire never consumed the stick. I could tell that he was ready to lash out at the smallest provocation. 

“Hush.” His voice was barely a whisper. It was more like he was simply mouthing the words. “They are watching and listening. We cannot make any noise.” He uncurled his hand from my snout slowly.

“What’s going on?” I hissed back. I could feel the hairs rising up on my back. It itched slightly, and simply increased my feelings of unease.

“Slink, I don’t have time to explain.” My father glanced around, as though someone might have come into the room since he last spoke. “They are coming for us,” was all he said before he slowly stood and padded on silent feet to my bedroom door. He carefully peered through it before slowly beckoning to me. 

I gingerly stood on my bed, the bed springs creaked slightly as I shifted my weight. My dad flinched at every small sound like each was as deafening as an Echoing Voice. I hopped down from bed lightly, not quite knowing what was going on, but sure that my dad was doing the right thing. I trusted him wholeheartedly.

The hallway was pitch black. Despite this my dad still seemed to float down it quickly yet carefully. If I hadn’t known he was there, I wouldn’t have noticed him. I tried to follow, but I couldn’t walk as fast as him. I nearly had to run to keep up, but even with how fast I was moving, I made sure to remain completely silent. 

Suddenly I felt myself being lifted into the air. My father had his eyes closed and his wand was producing a stream of pink energy that held me off the ground. He carefully maneuvered me to his side before setting me down. “Creaky floorboard,” he breathed. Part of me thought he was being paranoid, but the rest of me was anxious. What could possibly make my dad this nervous?

For some reason the living room was very brightly lit. But that wasn’t the strangest part. My dad had gotten to his hands and knees and was crawling across the floor. I followed him looking around curiously. My mother was sitting in her favorite armchair, a book in her lap, and she seemed engrossed in it. Her lamp behind her was lit, providing the room with illumination. 

“Mom? What’s going on? Why are you still up?” I made sure to keep my voice down. Mom only shook her head slightly before turning a page in her book and continuing to read. 

“We needed an excuse for the lights to be on in the living room,” my father breathed into my ear. He was still on all fours, sitting crouched beside me. “We know that they can’t see into this room very well, so we should be relatively safe here. I’m going to go get your sister. Stay low, and stay quiet.” Without another word, my father army-crawled back to the hallway door and slithered through it. 

I guess now would be the best time to explain a little about my house. We lived on the south side of Lake Ogon. Have you heard of it? It’s just south of the exact center of the Continent. At the foot of the Crimson Peak? Anyway the house was technically one story, but it was built into the side of a hill. This means that for the back and the front to be the same level, the whole front of the house is up on stilts. The living room faces the lake, with a big bay window and a solid bench seat beneath it. That night the moon was directly over the lake, a white disc seemed to float on the water, and everything was bathed in a silver glow. 

“Who is watching us mom?” I tried to ask when my father left. “How do you know?”

Mom remained silent for quite a while. Eventually she turned the page of her book again, and shifted noisily in her chair, crossing her legs. “Across the street, by the bushes,” I heard her say. 

Remembering that I was supposed to stay low, I slunk to where I could clearly see out the window. Thankfully since the room was at a higher elevation than the street outside, I had a good view but nobody would be able to see me. I stared across the street, searching for whatever or whoever had my parents so scared. My heart almost stopped when I caught movement, and a few flickers of light. I could see the moonlight reflecting out of several pairs of eyes. They were watching.

I stumbled back, subconsciously wanting to dive into a hiding spot. How the heck were my parents so calm? I choked down the one thousand and one questions that were throwing themselves into my head. 

“Who?” I mumbled.

When she answered, my mother’s voice was quiet, but firm. She ran her finger along the page like she was quoting from her book. “‘You’re not,’ he said, his quiet voice full of _hatred_ .” Hatred, _Hatred._ I still don't know why, but Team Hatred was there. They had come for me.

It was about that time when my father came back into the room, my sister crawling on the floor behind him. I’m fairly certain that this was the only time I had ever been grateful to be the only quadruped in a family full of bipeds. “Do they know?” my dad whispered as soon as he entered. 

My mom let out a quick bark of laughter, holding the book closer to her face. “No way!”

Dad nodded, turning to my sister. “Are you ready?”

“No,” she said. She would have sounded almost cheery, but her voice shook, “but I don’t think I really have a choice.”

I still don’t understand what they were talking about but before I could dwell on it or ask what they were saying my father turned to me. “Slink, do you trust me?” He seemed pained, almost guilty.

What? Of course I did. “Yes,” I breathed wondering where this was heading.

“I think it’s time we invite our guests inside.” Then he did the last thing I expected. He stood up, and anyone looking into the house would have seen him. He grinned, he waved, and he pulled out his wand and waggled it. There was a flash of pink light, and I felt a huge burst of Psychic energy shoot from him. A few seconds later I heard a huge crash outside. I only found out later that my dad had thrown the trash cans at them.

“Okay,” my dad said at a normal volume, “that should grab their attention. Hey Blaze, would you be a dear and barricade the door. They should be on their way inside.” He sounded completely casual, as if he had invited our neighbors in for tea; not giving a violent organization all of the reason they needed to break in. 

My sister rolled her eyes at him, but did as he said. She pulled her wand from her tail (twelve inches of pine) the tip instantly catching Fire as it drug through her fur. Despite the obvious flame, it didn’t even scorch the actual wood. She began tracing runes on the door, each glowing a brilliant ruby red. I’m ashamed to say that I felt a surge of jealousy towards her. Since I hadn’t evolved, or fashioned a wand, my father had never taught me any magic. A sheen of Fire seemed to pass over the door once she’d finished. The door was sealed. For the moment.

My father went over to the lamp that stood behind the couch. He pulled off the shade, unscrewed the bulb, reached into the socket, and pulled out a thin grey key.

He turned to my mother who was still staring out the window. “Is anyone watching?”

Mom shook her head scanning the front yard, the road, and the area across the street. “No. I’ve checked. Besides, they’d be stupid not to only send up Dark Types. If anyone else is watching we can ‘convince’ them to forget.” 

The entire time I just stood there, stunned. I felt like an understudy who had only been handed a script the night of the play. My other three family members seemed to know exactly what to do, what was going on, and they almost seemed practiced.

“Guys, what is going on?” I demanded.

My father moved over to the bench under the window. He beckoned me over. “Slink, I ask again. Do you trust me?”

“Of course,” I answered once again, although a small balloon of doubt was growing in my stomach.

He looked me dead in the eyes, and for a moment he let his facade fade away. He suddenly looked twenty years older, his face drawn and lined. I recognize his expression better now. Defeat. He became someone who had fought as long and as hard as he could, but he had finally come across a foe he couldn’t best. Keeping his eyes on me he reached down and slid aside a panel cleverly concealed in the front of the bench revealing a silver keyhole. 

The short silver key slid easily into the lock. As it clicked into place there was a mechanical whirr, followed by a solid thunk. Then with a soft pop, the benchtop lifted up. No, not a benchtop. A lid. Inside the bench was hollow, revealing a wood-lined hiding space. I allowed myself to release a breath I didn’t know I was holding. My parents had a plan after all.

“How long have you been working on this?” I asked, appraising the hidey-hole. 

My father smiled wryly. “It has been a while. Way longer than it needed to honestly, but nobody else could know about it.”

I nodded, before a thought struck me. I looked my father in his eyes, confused. “There isn’t enough room in there for us.”

My father broke his gaze, shaking his head. “It wasn’t supposed to.”

As if to punctuate his point, there was a sudden loud crash at the door. The Hatred had arrived, and they didn’t sound too happy.

“What?!” I looked around wildly to my sister and my mother feeling panic rising like vomit in my throat. None of them would meet my gaze. “How are we going to escape?”

“Oh, Slink honey.” My mother’s voice shook. I could tell she was on the verge of tears. “ _We_ aren’t.”

“You are.” my father finished for her. 

“What about Blaze?” I turned to look at her, but she shook her head.

“There is only enough room for you in the box,” she said, “you have to go.”

“But-“ I tried to argue, but my father cut me off. 

“-Slink. Calm down. Remember how Delphoxes can see the future? Your grandfather taught me himself. I know what is going to happen tonight, and I know how to change what I saw.” He knelt down and put his hands on my shoulders. “Everything will be fine. You will have a family after today. I promise. But you have to hide. Now!”

The door crashed again, but this time one of my sister’s carefully drawn runes flickered and died. The protection still held, but for how much longer…

I couldn’t help myself. I ran over to my mom and buried my face in her arms. “I’m scared,” I admitted, I’m not too proud to say it.

“I know,” she cooed, “but you _have_ to go. I love you Slink.” She kissed my forehead. Blaze came over and pulled me and mom into a giant hug. Dad came along a moment later. 

It could have been an hour that we knelt there cocooned together in a hug. A day? A week? I never wanted to leave the warmth and comfort. 

_Smash_. Something angry was slamming itself against the door. Neither the enchantment, nor the wood would hold out much longer. “Hurry,” my dad said. Blaze and mom got up quickly as my father picked me up and dumped me unceremoniously into the box. He made to shut the lid, but he hesitated. 

“Slink… if something happens… I want you to... I need you to find the Dreamstone. Please, will you do that for me?”

I had a million questions. I wanted to ask what the Dreamstone was, or where it was. I wanted to ask why, but at that moment there was a loud _crack_ as the door finally gave away. Dad slammed the lid to the box shut and spun around taking the thin silver key with him.

I was plunged into darkness instantly as my heart started beating in my throat. What was happening? What could I do? For almost a minute all I could hear was the sound of blood rushing in my ears, and the echo of my heavy panting. 

I clenched my paws, my claws digging into the wooden floor of the box. I looked down, seeing the white marks my claws left behind. Wait, I could see?

A thin shaft of light was shining through the keyhole. I pressed my eye to it, just wanting to know what was going on. I had a clear view of the door, about the only thing I could see with any clarity, as well as the backs of my mom, dad, and sister who all stood, wands out, staring at the door. 

The doorway was an open maw, black and empty, and strangely nobody was coming through it. My sister made to step forward, but my dad threw out a hand, stopping her. He took three huge steps towards the door. Suddenly he twirled his hand in the air, the flame at the tip of his wand traced two huge rings of Fire. An inferno exploded from the center of the rings, like a Charizard breathing Fire. The doorway caught almost immediately, as if the wood of the door frame had been soaked in oil, and the light from the flames illuminated the hallway.

A familiar blue glow answered back. 

But Shane wasn’t the first to enter the room. 

The doorway was a maw of swirling flames, but that didn’t discourage the Hatred. A flash of blue announced a new player, and with a loud hiss, and a billowing cloud of steam, the flames vanished. A black and red Greninja stood in the charred doorway, a water sharrukin in each hand. 

My father and Smoke regarded each other with something like mutual respect. At least respect as warriors. In the back of my head I wondered how this would go; a melee fighter against a long range fighter. Shane trotted into the room, staying to the left and just behind Smoke. Two on three.

Dad struck first, his wand flared pink, and suddenly the couch flew forward hurtling towards both Hatred members. Smoke was quick enough to leap over it, but Shane was swept up and pinned to the wall. 

Smoke was moving instantly. He threw both of his water stars. They curved through the air unnaturally before making a beeline for my mother and sister. My sister easily deflected her’s with a small Psychic pulse, and my mom evaporated her’s with a tiny ember attack. While the Greninja was defenseless, my father rushed forward swinging his wand like a sword. Flame trailed from the stick like the fiery tail of a comet. 

The flame slashed across the Greninja’s chest and he backfliped away, trying to avoid it. I could smell burning skin even from my hiding place. As he dodged backward Smoke slapped his hands together sending out a Dark Pulse. My father flew back, head over heels, and landed directly overhead. I didn’t see, feel, or hear him move for a while. 

Smoke landed back on his feet, just in time for the carpet to shift under his feet. He lost his balance, falling onto his back. Before he could make another move all of the furniture in the room seemed to dogpile him. They threw themselves on top of him pinning him down. For the moment.

My mother stepped forward, her stick ablaze, ready to strike the final blow, but at that moment Shane brought himself back into play. He leapt onto my mom’s back and began ripping away at her with teeth and claws. At first, nothing made it through her fur, but my mom couldn’t reach him, and she couldn’t use Psychic to rip him off her back. 

My sister was trying to help, but realistically she couldn’t do anything to help without putting my mother in danger. All she could do was hold down Smoke, but we all knew that wasn’t going to last long. I lent my own power, keeping as much pressure on Smoke as possible, but he was stronger than the both of us.

I saw his arm, and I know my sister did too. He managed to pry it loose, a blade of water forming in his hand. He drew back and threw it as hard as he could. Before my sister or I could shout out a warning the blade slammed with a loud _thock_ into my mother. I saw her stiffen, and then fall to her knees. I don’t think that is what killed her, but Shane leapt off of her back as she collapsed. My sister stood alone facing them both.

I couldn’t erect a Psychic shield. They would have just walked through it. I couldn’t wield Fire from within the box. All I could do was watch in horror as they advanced on my sister.

 _Crash_! It was the sound of breaking glass. Even within the box I felt the cool breeze as the bay window shattered. What was that? Help? It had to have been my dad, but what was he doing? Escaping? No. He was getting a better weapon. 

I felt a wave of pure Psychic energy, more than me and my sister could possibly hope to create, exploded above me. It was like a giant Psyshock attack, but instead of rocks made of pure energy, shards of glass shot at the two Hatred members. The Greninja pushed Shane behind him, crossing his arms over his chest. Water pooled from the white pads on his elbows, rippling and flattening until it became a makeshift shield over his chest. There was no stopping the shards, the water only slowed the blades. Along with his body. Smoke stumbled back flinging glass, blood, and water everywhere as he reeled back in pain.

Shane darted forward, his whole body darkening, the air in front of him growing thicker with shadow. Before my father could do anything to stop him, huge spears of shadow exploded from him, darting forward and impaling his legs, arms, hands, feet, and one right through his middle. Shane retracted his spikes, dragging my father forward so he couldn’t escape. My sister could do nothing to stop the Night Slash headed at her.

They dragged the three of them into the corner beyond my line of sight. I could only see their shadows cast from the lamp knocked over in the fray. I knew that all three were still alive, but I knew that none of them were in good shape. And I could do nothing. I didn’t dare speak. Whatever future my father had seen… had been wrong.

Shane stepped forward with a growl. “Where is he?”

“Who?” I cringed to myself. My father had always been sarcastic with almost everyone, but never before did it have the potential to kill him.

“Where is the Fennekin?” Shane growled.

“Fennekin?” dad asked equal parts defiant and condescending. 

“It really is simple,” Shane said his voice becoming softer. “If you give me the Fennekin, you all go free. Either way we will find him, but this way you will be around much longer.”

“How about you leave,” my father suggested angrily, “and then the Fennekin, wherever or whoever he is, will let you live.”

Were they talking about me? All I wanted was to escape and help them, but I couldn’t. 

The Greninja stepped forward. He spoke calmly, but there was danger in his words. “I think I can make this decision much easier.” He moved, and I couldn’t see exactly what happened, but my sister let out a yelp. My heart was beating in my throat. What was the Greninja doing? “Tell me where the Fennekin is, or I _will_ kill her.”

I don’t particularly want to give him credit, but Shane spoke up. “Smoke calm down. Put her down. There are other ways we could go about this.” Smoke ignored him.

Neither of my parents moved, even Blaze wasn’t making a sound. “Really? The life of your son means more than the life of your daughter?” Nobody said anything. “The life of your brother means more than your own?” Smoke sounded shocked. His tone became angry. He made a move, and my sister screamed. I let out an involuntary gasp, and I instantly saw all heads turn my way. 

“I guess the Fennekin values all of your lives more than his.” The Greninja smirked, I could hear it in his voice. Suddenly Shane’s shadow vanished. My heart started pounding, until a glowing yellow eye suddenly jumped into view. I leapt back, trying to get as far away from the front as possible.

“I must admit friend that this is a rather nifty hiding spot.” The Umbreon grinned. “Come on out.” I heard claws scratching at the lid of my hiding spot, and light was temporarily blotted out as he inserted his claw into the lock. 

“Hey Smoke,” Shane called, “do any of them have a key?” 

I heard a few smacks, and a couple of grunts from my three family members, but soon enough the Greninja spoke up. “Grey?”

“Should be.” Shane responded. Smoke tossed him the key. I felt like I was going to vomit. Despite my family’s best efforts, I was about to be discovered. I braced myself, preparing to explode in a nuclear Firestorm as soon as the lid opened. The lights went out as the key clicked into place. There was a mechanical whirr again, and then I was falling.

The hill under the house rose to meet me, and I tumbled down landing in front of the house in a heap. Looking back, I saw the floor of the box hanging down. With a soft pop it swung back up into place, and I assume up above the lid clicked open. There was a quiet moment, before I heard a sudden cry of anger. I ran forward, scrambling back up the hill. I was out, I could save them. I had to. I closed my eyes, locking onto their Psychic aura. I could do it. I could…

In an instant all three of their auras vanished. Extinguished. Gone.

At first I didn’t understand. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Then I felt nothing but burning rage. My fur was on Fire, my eyes were filled with Fire. I was Fire. They had done this, and I could only do one thing to make them pay. The flames spread from me to the house. Then I ran. The house an orange and black smudge behind me.

* * *

My words were coming fast, I couldn’t make myself stop. “And I ran. I think that is how feral Pokemon feel. I couldn’t focus on anything else rather than food, water, and running as fast and as far as I could!” I was panting, I was hyperventilating, I felt like I needed to vomit.

“And then I just couldn’t run anymore. I stopped in that cave and everything finally came back to me. It was overwhelming, and all I could think of was the three of them… and… how… they… ” I couldn’t breathe, and then the dam broke. 

Molten tears streamed down my cheeks. My Fire was so hot that they evaporated before they reached my chin. I couldn’t talk, and I could barely breathe. Despite my Fire, I felt cold and alone.

Eve moved close to me, but she moved slowly. She carefully placed one of her paws over mine; then she froze gauging my reaction. At that moment I’m not sure I even registered her presence. 

Since I didn’t pull away she reached up with her tail and wrapped it around my waist. She lifted me up, turned me around, and pulled me close to her. We were facing each other, and she nuzzled into my neck and chest trying to comfort me as I continued to sob. 

And then she took it one step further. I felt a Psychic pressure completely surround my mind. It was something that my mother had done when I was a child. The constant presence and pressure was reassuring, like a mental security blanket. I’m not sure how she knew to do it, but it made me feel better. 

“Eve,” I whispered as soon as I was cried out.

“Yes,” she said, lifting her head to look me in the eyes. 

I took a deep shuddering breath. “Thank you. For everything. For being my friend, for listening, and for giving me a family a year ago.”

Eve snuggled back into my chest, maintaining the presence around my mind. “What was I supposed to do? Leave you to die in the wild? Mind my own business and let you die in that cave?”

Despite myself, I chuckled. She purred into my neck, and I hummed in response. We lay there in silence for a while. I felt a sudden fire in my chest, and I buried my nose into her fur, wrapping my forelegs around her and pulling her as close as physically possible. 

“I love you.” I said as I took in a huge breath of her scent. “I love you so much. Thank you. Thank you for being here for me. Damn it, Arceus, I love you Eve!”

We fell asleep right there that night, and we wouldn’t wake up until a simultaneously irate and uncomfortable Sam found us. 

But before I drifted off I whispered one last thing. “I can’t wait to find the Dreamstone. My parents and my sister will love you!” I felt an uncomfortable tingle in the back of my mind as I said those words. It was almost as if I was forgetting something. But then again, it probably wasn’t that important.


	11. Reckless

“Check,” Eve said with a smirk as she nudged one of her knights into place.

I cocked my head, regarding the board. I hadn’t considered that move. Eve was either trying to lead me into a trap, or she had come up with a very clever strategy. Both of us were laser focused on this match. The match that would break the month long tie we had been engaged in. 

Honestly, I’m not sure why we hadn’t considered playing chess before now. Both of us were really good at it (something about navigating Dungeons led itself to the strategy game), and it was a fun way to spend more time with one another. 

Of course it helped that Eve had found us such a cool chessboard to play with. It had been at one of the thrift stalls at the market. It was a chess board table, with two tall stools along with it. It wasn’t exactly easy for non-bipeds to use the board, and there were less expensive chess boards out there, but there was one thing that made Eve buy it. 

The pieces for this table had to have been custom made, because they were each small, fully-colored figurines of different Pokémon. My king was Arceus, the queen Xerneas. Eve had Giratina as her king and Yveltal as her queen. But the part that made us both love it were the bishops and the knights. The bishops on my side of the board were both Delphoxes (and for anyone who cares, Eve’s bishops were Zoroarks). As for Eve, all of the knights were different Eeveelutions. On her side they were an Umbreon and an Espeon, and on my side they were a Glaceon and a Leafeon.

Although this arrangement could also lead to awkward situations, like when Eve bragged about taking out both of my Delphoxes with her Umbreon. It took her all of three seconds to realize the line that she had crossed. I didn’t exactly have a way to get back at her, but when I could I always took out her Espeon with either my Ekans or my Seviper pawns. For the most part though, playing was a ton of fun.

I studied the board, glancing up at Eve every once in a while. There was no way that she would have make that move. Not only could I have countered it in half a dozen ways, taking her knight in the process, but she had left her king wide open for a counterattack by my bishop. This meant one of two things. It was a trap, or it was part of a larger plan. 

I slowly slid my king one square to the right, scanning her side of the board. It took me a second to spot it, as it was tucked behind one of my castles (an Areodactyl) but one of her pawns was in the perfect position to capture my bishop as soon as I sent him in. It was clever, and honestly not something I would have expected. But how to counter it?

Eve nudged her knight back a few spaces so that it would be in place to check my king again in one more turn. I grinned as I slid my rook so that it was directly behind Eve’s sneaky little pawn. I glanced up at her, and she was glaring at the board. Obviously she was a little miffed that I had figured out her strategy. 

I watched Eve as she plotted out her next move. She was nibbling softly on her lower lip, and her tail lashed out behind her. Her gem was glowing intensely, and if I hadn’t known better I would have guessed that she was trying to read my mind. Of course I was certain she wouldn’t. 

The more I looked at her though, I couldn’t help but feel a tingle in my stomach. It had been a few weeks since we had spent the night on the couch together, spilling our deepest secrets to one-another. It simultaneously warmed my heart and gave me the chills that this woman knew all of my deepest, darkest secrets, but then again she was my partner. Perhaps that was expected.

“Slink? What are you staring at?” I blinked as Eve’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. She had her head cocked, and was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. I suddenly realized that I had been blankly staring at her for more than a minute. 

I blushed, but I couldn’t help but tell the truth. “I’m staring at you.”

Eve smirked at me. “Why were you staring at me?”

Uh-oh. I knew I was in trouble now. That smirk all but guaranteed it. What could I say now? “I was staring because…of how beautiful you are…?”

There was a pregnant pause before Eve grinned. “Good save,” she said. 

“No, really,” I said, “you are beautiful, and I love you. I don’t think that I say that enough.” I leaned forward over the chessboard. Eve came to meet me. I nuzzled her, licking her cheek, her ear, and parts of her neck. Her purring rang in my ears, and I continued to nuzzle and lick so that hopefully the glorious sound wouldn’t stop.

I stopped as I felt a slight movement. “Hey, Eve. Move them back.”

“What?” She asked innocently.

I pulled back and fixed her with a smile. “I know you just switched my rook and your pawn. Swap ‘em back.”

Eve grumbled faintly, something about me not being able to notice it, before begrudgingly swapping the two pieces back. 

I chuckled to myself, looking for my next move. I lifted one of my knights, but before I could place it Vix came bursting into the room.

“Eve, what’s going on?”

“What?” Eve asked, not even looking away from the board. 

“We are going to be late. Didn’t you say we had to be at HQ by 10:30? Guys, it is 10:20!”

“What!” Eve said, scrambling to get to her feet, tipping her stool over backwards in the process. I hopped down from the table more gracefully before rushing to see if Eve was okay. 

She clawed her way free, diving for the Expedition Gadget. “What? Slink you were supposed to tell me when it was time.”

“Sorry,” I said teasingly, “I was too busy keeping you from cheating.”

“Oh,” Vix gasped excitedly, “you were cheating Eve?” She said it like it was the most interesting thing she had heard in her life. 

“Yes, I did,” Eve snapped. Her gem flared for a moment as her bag lifted up from the dresser and flung itself over Eve’s shoulder, “but only because Slink was cheating. He was reading my thoughts.”

“She’ll be more friendly when we get to HQ.” I grabbed my own bag from where it was hanging on one of our bedposts. “Oh, and Eve, you and I both know that I wasn’t reading your thoughts.”

Eve huffed, and pretended that she hadn’t heard me. Instead she ran from the room. Vix and I following a few steps behind. “Abby, Sierra, are you ready?” Eve asked frantically as soon as she entered the room. Both father and daughter were laying on the couch, watching Eve scramble with the slightest smiles. 

“We’ve been ready for almost half an hour. We were waiting on you and Slink.” Sierra chuckled as he hopped off the couch. He shook himself, as his fur had become matted on one side from where he was laying. “What were you two doing in there that you got so distracted?”

I laughed at Sierra’s risque humor, a small amount of blush stinging my cheeks. Eve didn’t even react to his comment. She seemed to be having a seizure by the door. “Sierra,” she snapped as she hopped from foot to foot, “I’m sure you can make just as crappy of jokes  _ outside! _ ” 

Sierra only grinned at Eve’s reaction, but he was smart enough to get the hint and head out the door. “Come on Vix!” Abby called to her friend, “If we hurry, I bet we can run down to see Dimitri. He showed me a new trick last time I was there that you gotta see.”

“Sure,” Vix said skeptically before racing Abby out the door. Eve and I could hear them thundering down the hallway.

“And then there were two,” I said to Eve.

“Slink,” she said impatiently, “now is not the time!”

I shrugged. “Sorry. Let’s go.”

Eve was holding the door open, but as I made to leave she suddenly threw out her tail to stop me. “Wait. Slink, I have no idea how long this job will take us today. Just in case… do you have the tickets for tonight?”

I patted my bag and laughed. “Eve, I’ve got them right here. I had them here last night when you asked. I’ve had them since you gave them to me last week.”

“I didn’t really need the sarcasm,” Eve mumbled as we walked down the hallway together. “I just wanted to check because… well I’m kind of excited for this you know.”

The tickets had been a gift from Gregory. Both were bright green and glossy. The words “The Gogoat” were written across them in bubbly yellow letters, and a picture of the namesake Pokémon appeared above it. It was a new restaurant slated to open tomorrow, but as both a fundraiser and for a bit of publicity the owners had invited several prominent Pokémon from all over town for a special dinner tonight. I knew for a fact that Kegan and Nurse Candice had been invited, as well as a few other famous Expedition Society teams that lived in and around town. 

The owners had actually lived in the same apartment building we did for several years, and so they had given Mr. Gloom two tickets to the grand opening. Fortunately for Eve and I, he had had other plans, so he passed the tickets off to us. Since there were only two tickets Eve and I had decided to go alone. As a date.

It wasn’t the first time we had gone out alone, but there was always something that kept it from feeling like a date. The night we met Sierra for example. We had meant for Vix to come with us, and a half-dead Absol begging for your help kinda kills the mood. Then there was that time five months ago when we had tried to sneak off to dinner, but we ran into Abby as she was leaving the library and she ended up tagging along.

Of course it would also be our first date since we had decided to be partners. 

“And of course I’m a little nervous about this job. We’ve never done a job like this…” I brushed my tail over her back, trying to comfort her. 

“Eve this is a good thing isn’t it? I mean, a client requested us and he wants to meet us. We are getting to be more famous and our reputation is growing larger. That means more people will want us for their jobs. That means more money for each job. And both of those lead to-”

“More fame, more respect, a larger reputation. I know.” Eve said shuffling her feet a little. “But it just… makes me nervous I guess.”

“You weren’t nervous when we met Leo. What is the difference?” I smiled, trying to reassure the Espeon. 

“There isn’t one,” Eve conceded, but she shook her head. “I don’t know Slink. I’ve had a pit in my stomach since we woke up this morning. I can’t shake the feeling.”

“Perhaps that was you dreading losing to me in chess,” I snickered. She touched me with her tail too. It wasn’t nicely though. 

Soon enough we reached Society HQ. I held the door open as the other four members of the team stepped inside. As we entered I could hear a loud nasally voice echoing in the main room.

“Well it’s 10:30 now, and they haven’t arrived yet. Are you  _ sure  _ you gave the message to Team Mindfire? I don’t know what kind of operation you are running here, but in my experience, Expedition teams are never late!”

Eve stepped forward before things could escalate. “Sorry we are late Kegan. We got held up at home. Is this our client?”

I was standing in the back of the pack next to Vix, so I couldn’t see the Pokémon she was referring to, but just from his earlier statement I wasn’t sure if I liked him. Kegan started to reply to Eve’s question, but the Pokémon barged right through. 

“Yes, of course I am,” he snapped. “But more importantly, do you think I am a fool?”

“Er...uh...No?” Eve stammered. I felt bad for her, but I wasn’t in a position to help. “I’m sorry, but what seems to be the problem?”

“I wanted Team Mindfire,” the Pokémon answered obnoxiously (I was liking him less and less), “Sure you are an Espeon, but everyone knows that Team Mindfire has a Fennekin and a Vulpix. What did you think that you could try and distract me with a Shiny Absol?”

Eve sounded both hurt and confused. “Fennekin and Vulpix? They are here. Slink? Vix? Where’d you go?” 

“Back here,” I called, raising up on my tiptoes to try and see over Sierra. “Hey, um, Sierra. Do you mind?”

“Oh, sorry,” the Absol apologized, before he took a step to the side. Vix and I slipped through the narrow pass to finally meet our newest client.

It was a Watchog. Not exactly the Pokémon I had expected, but hey. I felt him glance over me with those red-yellow eyes with their thousand yard stare. Something about Watchog gave me the heebie-jeebies, but I tried not to let that show.

“Hello sir, what can we do for you?” I tried to be as polite as possible. 

He glanced at me and then his gaze flicked to Vix. He nodded to himself. Then he realized that I had asked him a question and he snapped his attention back to me. “Oh, um, right. Yesterday I was wandering through a Mystery Dungeon, and then I was attacked by a wild Meinshao. I managed to escape, but I dropped my bag. I carry my wallet on me, so I am fine financially. But I did have a few things in my bag that have a certain sentimental value to me. Can you guys help me out?”

“Er… sure,” Eve said, “can you give us any more information about where you were or…”

“Of course I can,” he said haughtily. “Do you have a map?”

“Yes,” Eve breathed, and as she turned to get the Expedition Gadget from her bag I saw that he had upset her with his crass words. I felt a bolt of anger shoot through me, and I turned my attention to the Watchog. I was fully prepared to give him a piece of my mind, but then I felt a calming presence in my mind. Like a hand on my shoulder.

_ Let it go.  _ Eve pleaded with me. 

_ He is a Mudbrey.  _ I replied angrily.  _ We could probably find another job in five seconds. Or we could take today off to get ready for our date.  _

_ He asked us to be here,  _ Eve replied.  _ It could seriously hurt our reputation to say no to him.  _ Eve shot me a glare before handing the Expedition Gadget to the Watchog.

“I was in that Dungeon. Grassy Slope, I believe it is called. I also am certain that I was on the third floor when I lost my bag.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. Grassy Slope was a relatively weak Dungeon and had one of the lowest feral populations on the continent. This Watchog must be a serious wimp if he needed us to go get it.

“Oh, we’ve been to that one before,” Eve said happily. “It shouldn’t be that much of a -”

“Yes, yes,” the Watchog interrupted waving a paw dismissively. “Now can we discuss payment so that you can head out?”

I growled low in my throat. Eve shot me a look, but the client didn’t notice.  _ Seriously Eve, this job is one of the most basic ones we have ever seen. Anyone can do it, but for some reason he insists it has to be us. We can make this guy putty in our hands.  _

_ Let it go!  _ Eve argued silently.

“Excuse me,” the Watchog interjected. He had mistaken our silence as us simply ignoring his question. “Do you need me to repeat myself? Or did you understand the first time I asked you?!”

That was crossing a line. I didn’t care what Eve said. He was going down.

“Now my message promised you 1,500 P for the job. Of course if you do the job quickly I might be willing to bump up the reward to 2,000. Does that work for you?” The Watchog crossed his arms and tapped his foot. Obviously he was itching for us to get going.

“Yeah, sorry,” I said shaking my head, “we really only answered your message out of politeness. We never agreed to doing this job for you. Thanks, but…” I turned tail and started to walk away leaving a very confused Abby, Sierra, and Vix behind. “You comin’?” I called behind me as I sauntered out.

“Wait,” the Watchog cried, the smug air fading in an instant. “I guess I could bump up the reward to 3,000P.” He said it casually, but I could sense a quiet desperation behind his words. 

“5,000,” I countered.

“3,500,” the Watchog attempted. 

I cut him off again. “4,500. Take it or leave it.”

The meerkat huffed to himself, but nodded. “Fine. Now would you please just go and get my bag?”

Eve glared at me, but I felt pretty good. Serves this jerk right. But at the same time something seemed off to me. Why did it have to be us? There were probably dozens of Expedition teams in town that would have taken the job for a fraction of our price. Despite this, the Watchog hadn’t walked away. There was something screwy here. 

I tried to shake off the feeling as the Team headed for the door. There would be plenty of time to think on this later.

* * *

There were only seven levels to this dungeon. That was the first thing Vix had said as we entered. 

“So in and out in five minutes I take it?” Sierra grinned. 

Vix shook her head, looking around as if she could actually see through the Dungeon walls. “I mean we might, but we would have to land  _ on _ the portal on the second floor, and then land on top of the bag on the third.”

“Vix,” Eve rolled her eyes, “cut to the chase.”

Vix huffed. “This floor is extremely complicated. There is only one path, and it is a seriously roundabout route.”

“Can we not take a more direct route?” Abby asked curiously. 

All eyes shot to Vix who shrugged. “We  _ could. _ But I was told that we weren’t allowed to go through traps anymore.” Abby looked around, waiting for someone to clarify.

“That’s because you never warn us when we are about to hit a trap,” Eve said.

I took pity on Abby. “When we went to rescue you, Vix led us through some traps, and we had a few issues.” Behind Abby, I saw Sierra blush slightly at my explanation. “Vix, I was kidding. You can take us the trap route if you want. I trust you.”

“Ummm,” Eve butted in. “How about we don’t go the trap route. Remember last week? I was picking spikes out of my fur for hours after that.”

“To be fair, there were two traps practically on top of one another,” Vix huffed, “I didn’t see the Spike trap okay.”

“Yeah. But what if it had been a poison trap?” Eve glanced around at the rest of us, probably looking from support from Sierra and Abby. “Come on, we can take the long way.”

Sierra shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “I wouldn’t mind taking a shorter route,” he mumbled to himself. 

“They just got a new book at the Library this morning. The sooner we get back, the better the chance that I can get it first. It would help to take a shorter route.” Abby said to her paws.

Eve glared at the two Absols, before turning to Vix. “Fine,” she barked, “let’s go your way then!” 

I saw the little fox flinch, and then visibly deflate at Eve’s tone. “Right,” she squeaked before scurrying into the right path, leaving the rest of us to follow.

I choked back the retort that I had been about to shout at Eve. I didn’t want to make a scene in front of Abby and Sierra, and I definitely didn’t want to scare Vix even more. I forced myself to bite my tongue for the moment. There would be time enough later.

With Vix’s help we were able to out maneuver all of the traps, clearing the floor in about half an hour. Even better; when we landed on the second floor we were perhaps five feet from the portal. The worn stone platform was situated in the center of a grassy clearing with a stream running across one end. 

Thankfully our decision to stop for lunch was unanimous.

Eve pulled five apples from her bag, tossing one to everyone. I pulled a loaf of bread out of my bag, along with some jerky. It wasn’t elegant, but it was food. Soon everyone was eating quickly. The sooner we were done the sooner we could be back home and Sierra could start on dinner. 

I finished before everyone else. I hoped that Eve and I would be having a larger-than-average dinner that night, so I didn’t really eat much. Speaking of Eve, she didn’t eat much either. She seemed to be playing with her food. 

“Eve, can I speak with you?” I asked sternly. 

“Huh,” she said distractedly, “oh, uh, sure.” She stared at me for a moment. I realized she was waiting for me to start.

“Alone,” I amended. 

“Oh, yeah,” she said getting to her feet. She trotted off a ways from the group. 

Abby and Sierra didn’t seem to notice, but Vix was looking at me with her head cocked. I had to fight a laugh as I noticed that her cheeks were bulging with food. “We’ll be back in a moment,” I muttered. The little fox nodded, and returned to eating as fast as possible.

As I approached, Eve seemed both nervous and somehow preoccupied. I wasn’t quite sure about how to start this conversation so I dove right in, albeit tentatively. “Eve, I wanted to talk about… what happened today with Vix?”

Eve flinched and shook her head. “I didn’t mean to yell at her. I was mad and a little frustrated, and I lashed out. I’ll apologize to her later.” She sighed. “I hope she doesn’t hold a grudge. I really didn’t mean it.”

“It’s fine with me, but knowing Vix, she will hold a grudge.” I shot Eve a grin that she didn’t return. “But Eve, even if you are mad or frustrated with her doesn’t mean you can just yell at-“

“I wasn’t mad at her,” Eve interrupted firmly. I was taken aback. What was I going to say now? “I wasn’t mad at her,” Eve repeated, “I was frustrated with you.”

Now I was really confused. “Why me?”

Eve’s gem flared as she fixed me with her gaze. “I am sick and tired of your attitude recently when it comes to making decisions.”

“What… what are you talking about?” I asked.

“This morning with the client, that was totally embarrassing Slink!” Eve snapped.

“What was wrong with that?” I argued back angrily. “He was a jackass and I wasn’t about to let him treat us like that.”

“That was not solely your decision to make! You could have told me the plan, I could have helped.”

“No, you told me not to do it. You were going to just let him walk all over us.”

“That would preferable than burning bridges. You are so Arceus damn stubborn sometimes Slink. Can you ever give in? Can you not turn the other cheek? What if he had decided that he didn’t like us anymore? He could ruin our reputation. Nobody would want us to take their jobs!” Eve was nearly shouting at this point.

“But laying down won’t help either. Sometimes you have to hit back, especially when you are cornered. What if we had given in? He would tell everyone that we are total pushovers. We might get more jobs, but only because people know they could rip us off. I’m sorry I didn’t consult you, but it worked out so what is the harm?”

Eve glared at me. I knew she wouldn’t hurt me, but in that moment I was actually nervous. “What about Vix then?”

The change of subject completely threw me off. “What about Vix? I thought we established that her using her powers couldn’t possibly attract more attention from the Hatred. Plus getting through Dungeons faster and more efficiently makes it easier for us to avoid them. What is the problem here?”

“Slink, sometimes I wonder if you even care about her wellbeing? Remember what happened last week, with the spike trap?”

“It was a mistake,” I argued, “she learned from it. Did you watch her when she was navigating earlier? She was so meticulous, so careful. She is determined not to let it happen again?”

“I get it,” Eve agreed, “but that isn’t my problem. You said it yourself, it was a mistake. What happens if she makes a different mistake.”

“She won’t, “ I tried to argue, but I knew that it wouldn’t hold up.

“Sure, you say that. And that kind of encouragement is making her reckless! Slink someday she may have to tackle a Dungeon alone. That recklessness might come back, lead to another mistake, and she could get herself hurt...or worse. And can you imagine what it would do to her if we are in a Dungeon with her and a mistake kills me or you? Can you imagine if she thinks that she had a direct hand in killing one of us?”

I stayed silent. I had no idea how to respond to that. “I guess that never occurred to me.”

“And that is my problem,” Eve snapped. “Because even though you don’t think these things through they sided with you. They sided with you, and you seem to just take everything as a joke!”

“Maybe the problem isn’t me. Maybe you are just too uptight about everything!” I growled. “You are so controlling over money and time and everything You don’t let anyone do anything unless it aligns with what you want. Arceus forbid anyone do anything that goes against you!” I’m not sure my arguments were even making sense anymore. I was just looking for ammunition to throw at her.

“You know what Slink, maybe you should find something else to do for dinner tonight!” And with that she turned tail and stormed off back to the group. She barely paused to shove the remaining food into her bag before she stepped onto the stone platform and moved to the next floor.

Vix, Abby, and Sierra stared at me in total confusion, but I barely registered them. For the first time in my life I had no idea what element was flowing through me. It wasn’t Fire, and it certainly wasn’t cold like Psychic. It was an empty, hollow feeling.

Numbly I made my way back to the group, and the four of us stepped onto the stone platform together.

I stumbled slightly as we landed, barely keeping my feet on the steep slope I had appeared on. The others weren’t quite so lucky. Abby had to fall to her belly, and Sierra completely lost his balance and went tumbling down the hill. Only Vix landed perfectly. 

“Sierra, what are you doing down there?” Vix asked pedantically.

“Just resting,” Sierra shouted sarcastically.

“Vix, focus!” Eve snapped. She was standing at the bottom the hill. Her tail lashed out behind her like a whip. “Where are we going now?”

Vix flinched at the tone before sheepishly closing her eyes for a moment, thinking. “There are several paths, most of them are pretty safe. They all seem to funnel down into one big room. Then there are about half a dozen paths all branching out, with the portal among them.”

“But we shouldn’t have to find the portal since the bag should be somewhere before it,” Abby mumbled. 

I nodded encouragingly. “Abby’s right. So Vix, what is the plan?”

“Umm,” Vix said her eyes flicking to Eve, “there are six main paths with a few offshoots each.”

“Are there any traps on this floor?” Eve asked, probably meaner than she meant to. Still Vix tucked her ears back to her head and her tails between her hind legs.

Vix closed her eyes again, and I knew she was searching, scouring thoroughly. I knew she didn’t want a repeat of the iron spike incident. “There is one,” she said slowly, “on the far left path?”

“Any feral Pokémon?” Eve prompted.

Again, Vix paused while she searched. “No, strangely enough. At least on this side of the central room. I see a few on the other side, but they are mostly grass Types.”

I nodded. “What are you thinking?” Sierra asked. 

“There are five of us and six paths. I say we split up.”

Vix nodded, Sierra seemed almost angry, Abby looked downright terrified, and Eve looked at me with an angry curiosity. “It makes sense,” I tried to justify. “We just established that there are no traps or ferals. We can each take a path. If we find the bag, we take it to the rendezvous on the other side. Vix can describe our path to us before we go. It will be way more efficient than all of us going down each path.”

“Okay,” Vix said eagerly, “I’ll take the left path-“

I glanced at Eve. “No. Let’s leave the trap alone for now. Besides there has to be one path that remains unexplored for the moment. I’ll take the right-most path. Then Sierra, Abby, Eve, and then you.”

Everyone agreed, albeit reluctantly in some cases. It took Vix a few moments to describe the path each of us should take, but soon enough the details were squared away and we were ready to get started. 

This Dungeon was in the foothills of the Scale mountains, and as such it was essentially a meadow. Thick trees split each of our paths from one another, and in some cases red rock walls rose up around us. It was actually kind of relaxing to wander through a Dungeon alone, although the silence got to me after a while. 

That being said, it only took me ten minutes to check my path. Before I knew it, I had arrived at the meeting place where Vix was already waiting. 

“No luck?” I asked as I approached.

She huffed. “Took you long enough,” she said, “and no, I didn’t find the bag. None of the rest of them will either. You know why?” She gestured with her head. We were sitting in front of the entrance to the large central room, and sitting in the center was a large messenger bag made from bluish leather. 

“Well, that makes this job much easier,” I remarked. I nudged Vix teasingly with my nose. “Well, at least now we can have some fun with the others. I bet Sierra gets through his section first.”

Vix grinned at me. “No way. Eve will get frustrated and give up way before Sierra. But my money’s on Abby.” Her voice changed a bit, sounding almost sympathetic. “She doesn’t really like Dungeons. I think that if it didn’t mean being alone all day she wouldn’t come with us. I bet she sprints her section, and is out first.”

We were both quiet for a while. “You and Eve both got really mad earlier huh.” She said it casually, but I could hear an underlying anxiety in her words.

“You heard that?” I grimaced. I had hoped to keep the others out of this. 

“Slink, people on the Sand Continent heard you two. What was that all about anyway?”

“I sighed. She thinks that I make irresponsible decisions, I don’t consult her enough, and that you all only agree with me because you like to feel reckless.” I knew I was putting words in Eve’s mouth, but I was still angry.

“Oh. I think I get it. But to be honest, I don’t think she is really mad at you. I just think that today was just the straw that broke the Camerupt’s back.” 

I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t follow.”

“After the whole spike thing last week Eve talked to me. Remember? She told me that she didn’t blame me, and that she understood it was an accident.

“But then she mentioned how she didn’t feel like she was pulling her weight as team leader and that may have been what caused the problem.”

“How is she not pulling her weight? She is doing great!”

“Well look at it from her perspective. The way I see it, she was the one who wanted to start a team, but you brought me on board. You came up with the team name and symbol, and you were the one to offer Sierra and Abby a home with us. I could be wrong, but maybe she feels like she isn’t doing enough. That could be why she’s been so controlling lately.”

I hadn’t thought about that. Suddenly I felt completely horrible. I had taken Eve’s dream, her goal, and I had used it how I saw fit. No wonder everyone agreeing with me earlier had bent her out of shape so much.

“I...oh Arceus Vix. I wish I had known this sooner!” I resolved to pull Eve aside and apologize as soon as we got home.

“Just talk to her,” Vix suggested with a shrug. “I’m fairly certain you can’t make anything worse.” She stiffened. “Abby’s almost here, we should change the subject.”

I probably shouldn’t have doubted her because sure enough everyone met up with us. Abby sprinted to us as though a Gengar was chasing her down her path. Eve came next, with Sierra bringing up the rear.

We all couldn’t help but laugh at ourselves as we entered the large room to grab the bag. Vix darted forward eagerly (she liked carrying the “trophies” as she called them) with the rest of us getting ready to warp back to base as soon as she had the bag. 

We were perhaps five seconds from warping back home when I felt something that was almost like a punch to the gut. Instantly I was on high alert. I opened my mouth to call a warning when…

_ Wham!  _ A burst of white-hot pain shot through me, followed by another blast of agony across my chest accompanied by a blinding electric blue light. Honestly, I thought my chest had actually exploded as I clutched and tore at the fur there. It took me a minute to realize that my badge had shattered, leaving a small, black scorch mark where it had been. 

Looking around, I realized that the same had happened to everyone else. Vix’s eyes were wide from shock and pain. Sierra was frantically trying to pat down Abby’s chest where the exploding badge had ignited her thick fur. My heart was pounding in my throat. “Run!” I screamed.

Too late. I saw a flicker of orange shoot through my line of sight and land with a  _ thud.  _ An instant later with a ringing  _ crack  _ a pink form shot by as well. Abby cried out as her head was slammed into the ground and held there by a Throh’s giant orange hand. Sierra had been pinned down with a Gurder’s girder across his back. 

I gathered the energy for a Psychic attack, but Vix cried out too. I turned to find the tan Tyranitar holding her in a bear hug. Vix kicked at his arms and pummeled at him with her tails, but with a quick squeeze (and a yelp from Vix) he was able to stop her struggles. 

A flicker of black spun me around until I was facing probably the most horrific scene of them all. Smoke was standing upright holding Eve by the scruff of her neck in one hand, and pressing a blade of water to her throat with the other. He grinned at me, while Eve seemed petrified. 

I turned slowly in a circle, the Hatred members leering at me while my friends could only look on in shock and horror. And then suddenly I was face to face with Shane. He was smiling at me, but the smile never reached his eyes. “Hello Slink, fancy meeting you here.”

I instantly took a step back, opening my mouth, filling my throat with flame. With just a thought, I could turn Shane into a scorch mark on the grass. It would be so easy.

“Hold on,” Shane chided quickly realizing where I was mentally, “one more move and well, we wouldn’t want my friends to get to excited would we? Someone could get hurt, specifically that old Absol to start.” Reluctantly I let my flames and rage die. I wasn’t about to let Sierra get hurt simply to indulge my anger. 

“That is more like it,” Shane smirked. He leaned slightly to the side, looking at Smoke and Eve behind me. “Hey, Smoke loosen your grip a bit. She wouldn’t dare do anything under these circumstances, and I told you not to hurt her.” Eve was wriggling so much in Smoke’s grasp that he had to use both of his arms to contain her. Thankfully that stopped him from using any water shurikens. 

“I must say guys,” the shiny Umbreon said to his team, “we did well here. Even I didn’t think it was going to be this easy.” Suddenly he turned his gaze skyward. “How are you doing up there Sparkle. I gotta hand it to you, nice timing on those thunderbolts.”

“What can I say Shane? You flatter me.” The voice grew louder as a fuzzy form swam into view. The entire figure was a dark brown color except for its paws, ears, cheeks, and tail that it floated on like a surfboard. The Alolan Raichu gave me a quick once over before shrugging. “They had no resistance. It was far too easy to overload their badges.”

I tried to keep myself calm as a thousand scenarios ran through my head. First things first, I thought, gather some information. “What do you want Shane?” I challenged through gritted teeth. Probably not the most subtle approach, but to be fair I was still slightly off balance. “How’d you even find us anyway?”

“Isn’t it obvious,” Shane smirked, his yellow eyes glittered with dark amusement. I heard a collective chuckle around the clearing. 

I honestly had no idea, but before I could voice that, somebody else spoke. “The Watchog. You hired him didn’t you? He was certain that only our team could do this job, and he didn’t hire us until he saw that Slink was going. That way you would know exactly where we would be.” I glanced back at Eve. She had stopped struggling, but was looking at Shane with an expression of naked anger and defiance. “I knew he let us charge more too easily. Nobody is that bad a negotiator.

“You couldn’t have figured it out a minute earlier,” I mumbled to myself. Unfortunately it looked like Shane heard me. He smirked and raised an eyebrow before continuing. 

“As for what we want, I think even you can figure that out Slink. We want you of course,” he turned his head so he was facing Vix, “we want the girl,” he turned to Abby, “and we want the runaway.”

I felt my stomach twist into a knot. There had to be a way out of this right? Perhaps I could knock out the Gurdurr holding down Sierra. If he could get away then they couldn’t use him as leverage. Shane seemed unwilling to hurt Eve, and he wanted the rest of us as hostages so maybe…

“Slink honey,” Sparkle’s words broke through my thoughts, “I see what you’re thinking. That would be a terrible idea, trust me. We are still taking you, even if you are bruised and battered understand?” 

My heart was beating in my throat as I realized that I had missed her probe entering my mind. Using a large burst of Psychic energy I forced her out of my mind and sealed the way behind her. I locked my mind inside of a huge steel box, not letting anything in or out. Unfortunately that also meant Eve. I shuddered as I cut our connection.

I turned away from Shane slightly, still looking for any possible escape. Then from across the circle I suddenly met eyes with Vix. She cocked her head at me before she flexed her tails. Her gold bracelet flashed in the sun.  _ Should I?  _ She mouthed. 

My mind raced beneath my barriers, and I made sure they were still up. If Sparkle heard my thoughts now, all hope would be lost. Slowly I weighed out my options. 

Yes, Vix had an out here. All she would have to do would be evolve, absorb her Firestone, and become a Ninetales. She would lose her navigational powers, as well as any value to the Hatred, and they should let her go. They should. 

Shane… He already didn’t want them to hurt Eve… and when she had told me her story, Shane hadn’t tried to kill anyone. He simply put them to sleep. I eyed Smoke warily. He might kill. I knew he would kill. 

And then my thoughts drifted to Abby.  _ The runaway  _ Shane had called her. I got a sudden sick feeling in my stomach. I had known for over a year now that if the Hatred caught me I would die. In a way, I guess I had made my peace with the idea. But Abby hadn’t signed up for this, and I had promised her and Sierra safety and protection from the Hatred. 

My heart broke a little as I made my decision. I could only hope that Vix didn’t have to pay for it. I turned back to Shane. “ _ No, _ ” I said emphasizing the word. Hopefully Vix would understand, “you don’t get all three of us. Me and Vix you can take. Abby stays here!”

There was almost a collective gasp from around the circle as my bold statement drew a reaction from both friends and enemies. It took all of my willpower not to look over at Sierra and Abby. All of my concentration was focused on Shane. 

For the record even he seemed taken aback, at least slightly, by my bravado, but it passed quickly. He hitched a grin onto his face. “Slink, buddy, I’m not sure you know how this works. We captured you. We make the demands. You have nothing. Why would we do what you say?” He spoke slowly, condescendingly, as if I was an idiot.

I took a deep breath in through my nose. I forced myself not to glance back at Eve as I said the next sentence. “Because right now we are coming quietly.” There was a pause as I waited for my words to sink in. “If you let Abby go, Vix and I will come willingly and quietly. Otherwise you will have a fight on your hands.”

“Oh, a fight,” Shane rolled his eyes, “and why should we fear a fight?” 

I looked him dead in the eyes. My voice was little more than a growl. “Because if we fight, at least two of you will die.”

Everyone was silent, shocked by my threat. I decided to strike while the iron was hot so to speak. “Don’t doubt it. In my first move, two of you will go down. If you don’t believe me ask Sparkle. She knows what I can do.” The Raichu’s cheeks turned from a tropical yellow to stark white in an instant as my words hit her. 

Shane tried to recover, but there was a definite tremor in his voice. “And you think that you would come off any better?”

I shrugged. “No. But just think. If you do things my way, you get me and Vix with no hassle. If we do it your way, two of your men go down instantly. I know you won’t hurt or kill Vix, Eve will almost certainly leave relatively unscathed, and you obviously won’t kill Abby either. Sure you will probably have to kill me, but you are planning on doing that anyway right? And of course Sierra would die for his daughter I’m sure. In the end though you end up with Abby and Vix, but you are down two or more of your people?” I glanced over at the Throh and the Gurdurr obviously. “The question should be is your team willing to risk a fight?”

The Umbreon opened his mouth to argue, but before he could get a word out he froze. We both heard it. Muttering. We both looked around (I forced myself not to look at my team. Not yet) and saw that every member of his group except for Smoke were glancing at each other. My two targets, the Throh and the Gurdurr, were whispering to each other. The Tyranitar was shivering, and even Sparkle, who had seen what my plan was, was currently standing on the ground. Apparently she didn’t trust herself in the air.

This was it. My final play. I had honestly been bluffing this whole time. If they still wanted Abby I’m not sure I actually could take out both of the Fighting Types in one move. I could only silently pray that Shane would take my offer. 

Thankfully the confused mutterings seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for Shane. “Fine,” he huffed to himself, almost growling. “Now slowly and carefully lift that bag over your head, set it on the ground, and come sit next to me!”

I nodded before reaching slowly for the strap of my shoulder bag. It opened slightly as I lifted, and I could see the glow of the extra badge I had stashed in there after the whole Abby incident. I hesitated for a second. Once I took my bag off, there was no way I would be able to get it again. Was I giving up our only chance of escape?

Perhaps we could fight our way free. But then I remembered the argument Eve and I had had. “You are so Arceus damn stubborn sometimes Slink. Can you ever give in? Can you not turn the other cheek?” She was right. Sometimes you had to give in to avoid burning a bridge. 

“Slink,” Shane said firmly, “take it off now. Any sudden movements and I promise you that Sierra will not be walking away from this!” I nodded again, what else could I do? Excruciatingly slowly I pulled the strap of the bag over my head placing it on the ground. I could still get to the badge, but I would probably be the only one to survive… uncaptured at least. 

I gingerly stepped over to Shane, who despite himself was smiling. His plan had actually worked, and I didn’t blame him for being a little proud. “Good,” he smirked at me. “Quake, bring the girl over here!”

The Tyranitar lumbered forward, Vix swinging helplessly along in his arms. She looked absolutely terrified. I didn’t blame her, but I had to keep myself together. The big lizard threw her down next to me. She crashed painfully into the ground, before rising carefully. She shook herself, giving the Tyranitar a withering glare. For a moment, she looked like her usual self before her face melted back into a mask of fear. She carefully padded to my side under a watchful Shane and sat down beside me. I curled my tail around her as best I could. It was all the comfort I could offer at the moment.

“Form up,” I heard the quiet yet soothing voice of the Greninja say. Almost as one unit each Hatred member turned so their back was to us. Nearly in unison they spoke. “Make one move, and you’ll regret it,” before each quickly released their hostage and backpedaled, forming a big wall between me and Vix, and the rest of our team.

Through the milling Hatred members I could see Sierra shakily getting to his feet. His eyes were fixed on me. Eventually our gazes met, red into red. Then he broke his gaze, glancing at Abigail who was clinging resolutely to his side. When we met eyes again, his were full of tears. “Thank you,” he mouthed. 

I nodded in return, my mouth set in a hard line. I didn’t want to, but at the same time I couldn’t stop myself from looking over until I met Eve’s desperate, pleading gaze. 

She didn’t bother to mouth her words. She shouted them for the whole world to hear. 

“Slink, please. There has to be… You can’t… not after...” she trailed off as she remembered that the Hatred would stop at nothing to take me. She changed tactics. “Shane please, take me too!”

I could see the Umbreon almost consider the request, if only for a moment. Before he could even speak, Smoke cut across him. “No. We only want the Fennekin and the girl.” He glared at Shane, almost daring him to speak.

“Eve,” I said. The world seemed to stop for a moment as I felt her search my face. In the back of my mind I briefly wondered if she was memorizing it for when I was gone. I pushed that morbid thought away. “I promise I will keep Vix safe until you come get us.” And then before I could lose my nerve, I said it. “I love you Eve. I’m sorry.”

The Hatred had been slowly shuffling back into the corridor behind us. Vix and I were completely surrounded by shinies with Shane at the back and the Tyranitar, Quake, standing at the mouth of the corridor. I maintained eye contact with Eve for as long as I could, but just as I was about to lose sight of her, I saw her composure snap. “Slink!” she screamed as she darted forward. She didn’t make it far. 

Quake roared, the pure energy in his voice enough to make Eve lose her feet. He then placed a paw on the walls to either side of him. The ground seemed to rumble as a tan-brown light appeared around his hands and feet. The walls cracked as he strained against them. Then, with a final shout of victory he tore the walls apart. Both of them collapsed, completely sealing the doorway.

An instant later there was a dull thud and then a muffled cry of anguish. It killed me to hear Eve make that noise, but I had to keep myself together. I suddenly become hyper aware of Vix clinging to me. I met her brown eyes, and once again I found a question waiting in them.  _ Now? _

This would be the moment to do it. The Hatred was a little off balance from their success, and they wouldn’t be able to stop Vix if she chose to evolve. She was also close enough to the others to be able to find her after the Hatred let her go. But the ugly truth of the matter kept rearing its head at me. 

As soon as Vix evolved, I would lose all leverage and the Hatred would kill me. Of course they were already planning on killing me, but using Vix and her Firestone I could bargain for more time. Enough to last until Eve came to save us? Maybe. I also knew that every passing moment that Vix didn’t use the stone meant a moment when someone could take it from her. 

I am not proud to admit it, but I made the selfish choice. I’ll admit that some of it was hope that Eve would come through, but the majority of it was that I didn’t want to die. 

I shook my head slowly, making the movement as small as I could manage. Then as an afterthought I mouthed two words,  _ Hide It.  _ They were going to search us sooner or later, and it would be disastrous for them to find Vix’s secret. 

“Alright everyone, let’s get going,” Shane called. Immediately everyone snapped to attention, focusing on the Umbreon. “Quake, you watch the back. Crash, Stanley, you are with me. And Smoke,” he turned to me, “you watch the prisoners.”

The Greninja leered at me and Vix, and I couldn’t help but shudder. I knew that if I made even the smallest move in the wrong direction I would end up with a blade in my back. I couldn’t make a move now. I just hoped that Vix knew this as well.

Shane led us straight to the portal. I mean, directly to the portal. No wrong turns. No hesitation. “How is he doing this?” Vix whispered to me. She had gone pale under her fur, and there was a definite tremor in her voice. Apparently Shane sharing her navigational ability was scarier to her than being kidnapped. 

“Well it is really simple,” Shane called. I jumped nearly a foot in the air. Note to self, the Umbreon had extremely sharp hearing. “We scouted the floor this morning. We had plenty of time considering you didn’t get to this floor until noon.”

“But how come we didn’t know-”

“You used discs!” Vix cut across me. She seemed both scared and awed at the same time. “I knew that there were spots on this floor that didn’t feel right. They were from yesterday’s Dungeon.” She turned to me. “They planted the bag. They hired the Watchog. They hid where I couldn’t find them.” She was hyperventilating. I darted forward, trying to comfort her, but I was yanked backward as a vice-grip clamped onto the scruff of my neck. Smoke.

“I think you should stay away from the girl.” His tone was calm, but the bruising squeeze that he gave me told me that he meant business. Slowly he set me down and stepped between me and Vix. “Shane, you take the girl through first. I’ll follow with the Fennekin.” 

Shane glanced at Smoke and nodded. “Come on then,” he snapped at Vix. She glanced at me.

“But-” she mumbled.

“NOW!” Smoke roared. Vix tucked all six tails between her legs, and stumbled backwards towards the portal. Shane stepped through and vanished. Before stepping onto the platform, Vix turned back and met my eyes. I nodded softly, and gave her a small smile. She shivered before taking a step and vanishing.

The Fighting wonder twins stepped through next, and then Smoke signaled that it was my turn. Seriously? I couldn’t believe my luck. I could take down the two Fighting Types as soon as I landed, and then it would be me and Vix against Shane. Then with Vix’s ability we could run through the Dungeon and go get help before they could catch us. I stepped forward confidently, but once again Smoke nearly gave me whiplash as he pulled me back. “On second thought,” Smoke growled, “we go together.”

So much for that plan. Once we landed, Smoke set me back down. “Remember, one wrong move, and you are dead!”

Before I could check on Vix, the Gurdurr, Stanley I think, spoke up. “Why wait? We know he is a threat. Why not just take him out now?”

“Yeah,” Quake said as he landed, “why give him the chance to attack us? Just kill him.”

I reflexively backed away.I didn’t like where this conversation was headed. Smoke grinned at me (more like bared his teeth at me) and prodded me forward. Thankfully at that moment Sparkle floated down to join in the conversation..

“You all never said anything about killing him.” The Alolan Raichu glanced at the others. “I never signed on for this.”

“You didn’t really have a choice,” Shane said. Unlike the others he didn’t sound excited for my death, but it didn’t seem to freak him out like Sparkle. “We needed an Electric Type to take out their badges.”

“But if I had known that…” Sparkle argued. I lost track of the conversation. I doubted that Sparkle would be able to convince the others to spare me. I needed a plan.

The obvious answer would be to show my hand and hold Vix’s Firestone over their heads, but any number of things could go wrong. Smoke could jump her and take the stone, and even if we convinced the others to leave us alone, we were headed right to the center of the storm so to speak. Back at their HQ, any number of Hatred members could surprise us. I needed to think that move through more before I played it. What I needed was something to buy me one or two days.

Vix was staring at me, looking horrified. My gut twisted. I wished she didn’t have to go through this. I wished I could spare her from all this. That being said, there was one thing that I had to take care of. The backup plan.

I glanced at Sparkle, only to find that she was still arguing with Shane and the others. I only had seconds. Gathering my power, I sent a quick message to Vix while the others were distracted. _ Vix, I know you don’t want to hear this, but if anything happens to me Evolve Immediately. Do you understand? _

Vix’s eyes widened as she received my message. She began to shake her head vigorously and constantly. I fixed her with a steely gaze. “Yes,” I said firmly. 

She didn’t get a chance to answer. All of the Hatred members were looking expectantly at Shane. I realized with a jolt that he was about to decide my fate. He seemed to shrug. “I think that we should act sooner rather than later. Smoke would you like to do the honors?” I felt my heart freeze for a few moments, and then it started pounding as fast as it could. Vaguely I wondered if it was trying to get as many beats in as possible before it was stopped for good. 

“Nooo,” Vix shrieked. She dove at me, but she was grabbed by Stanley. She scratched him badly as she clawed to get free. The Gurdurr growled and pinned her to the wall. There were several grating screeches as her claws scrabbled against the wall. 

I couldn’t focus on her. My mind raced as the Greninja advanced on me, a smirk plastered across his face. Instinctively I backed away with every step he took, but all too soon my back was pressed against unyielding stone. Smoke held out his hands, one on top of the other, a few inches apart. He seemed to concentrate for a moment before shadows began forming between them. At first it was only oily black smoke, but soon the mass of shadow between his hands seemed to distort the world around it. I knew that if it struck me, I would be done.

My brain frantically searched for something to say, something I could do to stop what I knew was coming. But nothing seemed to come to mind. “Any last words?” Smoke teased. “Tears to shed? Want to beg?” 

And then I had an idea. “Shane, I thought Eve’s life meant more to you than this!” I nearly vomited the words out, trying to get them into the air as quickly as possible. At the same time though, I made sure to enunciate. There was no point if Shane didn’t understand me.

I saw a flicker of uncertainty in his features. “Smoke...wait…” he mumbled. Instead the Greninja thrust his hands forward, the energy he had gathered about to explode in a burst of Darkness. But at the last second Shane dove forward, knocking Smoke’s elbow, and sent the shot whizzing through the sky. “I said wait!” Shane snapped.

Before Smoke could reply, the Umbreon turned on me. “What do you mean? About Eve?”

I took a deep breath. One wrong step, and I was done. I had to play this carefully. “Well, I saved her life. But if you didn’t know, honestly I shouldn’t be the one to tell you.” I turned to the Greninja whose black skin had turned grey at my words. “Smoke, would you like to do the honors?”

Smoke glared at me, and I could feel another Dark Pulse coming. Shane glanced between the two of us, finally settling on Smoke. “Well?”

“It was the day when we had attempted to bring in the runaway. The young Absol.” Smoke’s speech became rougher, as though he was spitting each word out. It actually looked painful. “After you had been knocked out of the fight, I took the opportunity to eliminate the Fennekin. Unfortunately your Eve…”

“What happened to Eve?” Shane growled low in his throat.

“He nearly killed her,” I answered helpfully.

“What?!” Shane shouted glaring at the Greninja. “I told you that Eve isn’t to be harmed. Ever. Did you not understand? Did you miss? What the hell happened?”

“I was aiming for the Fennekin,” Smoke snapped, “but Eve pushed him out of the way and took my shot instead. There was nothing that I could have done!”

“Does it really matter,” I asked innocently, “I mean dead is dead, and Smoke nearly killed her.”

“You took her to the hospital,” Smoke snapped back at me, “anyone could have done the same. You didn’t save her life.”

“It was certainly a close run thing at the hospital. That was a pretty grevious wound you gave her. I am probably the only one on our team who could have gotten her there in time. But if that isn’t enough…” I turned to face Shane. He would be my judge and jury here. I only needed to convince him in order to avoid the executioner. “She was bleeding out. I gave her some of my blood. I gave her a lot of my blood. I am certainly the only one on my team, perhaps on the whole continent who could have done that.” I didn’t mention that my blood was just as likely to kill her. I didn’t think that fact would help my case.

Shane glared at me. “So what?” he challenged, but he didn’t sound very convincing.

I shrugged, trying to appear calm. “I don’t know. I’m just saying that I saved your ex-partner’s life, while your right hand here nearly killed her. Seems like you would at least thank a guy for that kind of service.”

Shane rolled his eyes, but his glare flickered for the smallest moment. “Fine. Thank you. Now what?”

“Well, I assume that you will kill me now. But, I saved the one you love. What does that mean to you?”

That was it. All my cards were down. I just prayed to all of the Legendaries that he wouldn’t call my bluff. Shane stared silently at me. I could almost feel his mind whirring. He broke his gaze looking down at the ground and growled to himself. He spat out a word that I could only hope that Vix didn’t hear. 

“What do you want Fennekin?” he finally snapped. I felt a small surge of victory, but I couldn’t let it take me over. I still had to play this safe. 

“I only need a few days. To get my affairs in order, make sure that Vix is fine. Just one week. Then you can execute me. Just one week.”

The other Hatred members muttered angrily. I felt them exchanging glances behind me. Shane looked around at them too. He shifted from foot to foot. For a moment he was acting like  _ his _ life was on the line. Finally he shook his head.

“I can’t. You are too dangerous.” I hung my head, my heart dropping. I heard Smoke move up behind me. “I can’t do a week,” Shane said. “I’ll give you three days.”

“What?” Smoke growled. He instantly lost all focus on me. He advanced on the Umbreon, but Shane stood his ground. “We have to kill the Fennekin! He is too dangerous!” 

“I don’t care who he is. I am not going to kill him today. He deserves at least a little respect. Besides I think the rest of the team would like to see the end of the Fennekin.”

For perhaps the thousandth time I wondered why I was so dangerous. Why did they need to eliminate me?

“And that goes for all of you. Nobody so much as touches the Fennekin without  _ my _ permission. He is under  _ my _ protection until the date of his execution. Is that clear?” There was an uncommitting grumble from the rest of the Hatred. “I’m sorry, perhaps you didn’t hear me. Is that clear?!” This time there was a unanimous cry of “Yes, Sir” but none of them seemed too happy about it. “Good,” Shane snapped, “now let’s move. I want to be out of this Dungeon before sunset!”

We had barely moved one step before Shane turned back to us. “On second thought search them. We don’t want any nasty surprises.” The Throh went over to Vix and began roughly, albeit professionally patting her down. Smoke came forward to search me, but hovered sarcastically over me glaring at Shane. 

“You may search him.” Shane growled rolling his eyes. “Hurry up.”

My search didn’t take long. I didn’t have anything on me. There wasn’t anything to find. Smoke did pause when he found my necklace. He turned the grey stone side to side examining it closely before he let it drop back to my chest. “Nothing,” he called to the others. 

The entire time however my gaze was leveled at Vix. The Throh started at her neck, obviously searching for a necklace like mine. Failing that, he ran his hands along all four of her legs. He must have squeezed her front left leg or something because I heard her gasp in pain. I shot a look at Shane, but he didn’t take his eyes off Vix. I bit my tongue. Protesting and threatening now would only tip them off.

Finally the only place left to search were her tails. He hesitated briefly, shooting a nervous glance at Shane. “Er, Shane, the ummm, the tails they can’t, uh…”

Vix shifted her weight, her tails rustling as they moved to counterbalance. I saw a brief flash of green, like cut glass. It had to be the Firestone. She had it clutched in her second tail, the same one that marked her as a Navigator. 

“No, she’s only a Vulpix. Her tails won’t be able to curse you until she becomes a Ninetales. Now finish up!” Crash nodded before resuming his search.

Thankfully he started on her leftmost tail, the farthest from where she hid the stone. He carefully combed his fingers through her fur, up and down until he had searched the whole tail. Honestly I wanted to protest that he was getting a bit too close to her tail base, but again I didn’t want to make them suspicious. He slowly worked his way to her fourth tail, the one next to the one that held the stone. 

I silently praised her acting skills as she suddenly jerked forward as he investigated her tail. It was only natural that he would grab a hold of it as it pulled away from him. That was all Vix needed. She yelped and then turned sharply, ripping her tail from his grasp. “Hey, that hurt!”

I jumped in instantly. “Shane, stop! If he hurts Vix again I will kill him.”

Shane regarded me dryly. “I’m sure it won’t happen again. Will it?” He addressed the last question to Crash who was staring at me, terror written across his face. He nodded slowly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he rambled. He moved towards Vix who recoiled half a step, wringing her tails together nervously. I noticed several more flashes of green as she used the moment to shuffle the stone’s position. 

“Enough of this,” Smoke spat. I think we had finally pushed him to the end of his rope. He yanked Vix towards him and sloppily combed through her two remaining tails. He paused as he encountered her bracelet. He lifted it up (and her tail with it) so he could examine it more closely. 

Not for the first time I silently thanked Kegan for the bracelet he picked. I had only asked for a plain golden band with a place to set the Firestone. He had thankfully seen the folly in that. In a situation like the one we were in, Smoke would see the plain band, notice the empty setting, and then more fully search Vix to find the Stone. Vix’s actual bracelet was more like two thin gold bands, an inch or two apart. Intricate designs sculpted in golden wire connected both sides. The setting was cleverly disguised, and even more brilliantly it suspended the stone in the bracelet so that in a pinch Vix would be touching the stone and therefore able to use it without taking the bracelet off. 

Still, I didn’t relax until Smoke had let Vix’s tail go. After all, it was only a bracelet. “Nothing here either,” he spat at Shane. I took note of the angry tension between the two. Perhaps it was something I could use later.

“Fantastic,” Shane said with all the enthusiasm of Vix taking a bath, “let’s move.”

It took us two hours to clear the Dungeon. It was actually entertaining in a way. Sparkle was obviously the “navigator” of the group, but she just couldn’t match Vix. In fact after every turn Sparkle made, I could hear Vix muttering under her breath. “That other path was a shortcut…glad she isn’t worried about that nest of ferals up ahead…oh, I see we are taking the scenic route…”

Thankfully we only had three more floors to clear. When we finally escaped the Dungeon we were much higher up on the mountain slopes than when we had entered, although we were still nowhere near the top. 

The Hatred formed up around us even tighter now that we were out in the open. Of course I didn’t really plan on making a break for it. And I swear that Smoke juggling a Sharrukin casually behind my back had nothing to do with it. 

We continued up the slope for an hour or so until we eventually ran into a road. We followed that up several switchbacks until we finally reached the peak of the mountain pass and Shane called a break. They gave Vix and I a few mouthfuls of water and a few thin strips of dried beef each. Vix devoured hers in the time that it took me to eat one. She glanced at me sheepishly, and I discreetly passed her half of my remaining food.

We continued down the other side of the mountain spine for a few hours before we reached the valley between the Scale mountains and the Crimson Peak at the center of the continent. In the back of my mind I hoped we wouldn’t pass by Lake Ogon and my former home. I knew it was impossible, but I could have sworn that I saw a black mark on the side of the Volcano. 

We reached the base of the Crimson Peak just as the sun was beginning to set. Sparkle left the group, flying off into the thick trees that surrounded the base of the Volcano. She floated back a few minutes later. “This way,” she muttered to Shane before floating off once again.

We followed her off the path into the trees and eventually we came across a set of caves that honeycombed the clifface there. Shane glanced at Sparkle raising an eyebrow. “You’re sure?”

Sparkle nodded. She flitted up to the sheer cliff face and raked aside a curtain of ivy with her tail. I felt my stomach twist with the symbol she uncovered. It was carved into the sheer face with black tar rubbed into the etchings. It seemed to be an upside down tree. A closely knit snarl of roots pointed skyward, but the odd thing was that the tree was also bare, or dead. Skeletal branches stretched downward zig-zagging like lightning. The whole thing made me think of death and destruction. It was a dark image.

“Fantastic,” Shane grinned. “Stanley, you go get water. Crash, you search the caves and find the cache. Quake, you go gather some firewood. Don’t bother with any tiny kindling, I’m sure our new friends will help us out.”

I rolled my eyes at him, but he didn’t notice. The Hatred members fanned out leaving Shane, Smoke, and Sparkle. “Do you need me to do anything?” Sparkle asked as she watched the others go.

Shane shook his head. “I need you and Smoke to help watch these two. Come on, let’s get inside.”

The interior of the cave was not what I expected. It was larger than what I anticipated for one thing. The entrance was little more than a gap between two of the rocks, but inside it widened out into an almost perfectly circular cavern. The ceiling was really low, but the space was almost one hundred feet across. The natural stone floor only existed near the cave mouth. After that the floor was covered in fine, soft, white sand. A small circle of stones that were almost in the exact center of the cave marked a fire pit.

The more I looked, the more I realized that this cave had been carved out to be usable. Heck, the sand wasn’t natural. Looking at this, for lack of a better term, hideout made me nauseous. The Hatred was well supplied and more organized than anyone in the Expedition Society expected.

We all sat down in the sand considering we didn’t have anything to do. After a while Sparkle drifted to the back of the cave and disappeared through another cleft in the rocks. She came back with a roll of canvas under each arm. She tossed one to Shane and Smoke and then went into the back again. She came back out carrying four more. She tossed two onto the sand, and then threw the fourth one at me. I barely managed to stop it from smacking me. I watched as Shane, Smoke, and Sparkle unwrapped their bundles. It was a large rectangle of canvas with a couple of blankets and a pillow wrapped within.

“There was only one bedroll left,” Sparkle apologized to me as she saw me studying it. The thing was militaristic in design. The pillow being just functional, and the blankets were thin cotton. Of course I wasn’t worried about Vix or me getting cold.

I shrugged. “Vix and I can share. Can’t we?” I glanced at Smoke questioningly. I could tell that he wanted to tell us no (he knew that I was planning something, but he couldn’t know what) but he also couldn’t find a reason to say no.

Thankfully it was around that time that the others came back. Quake was first, with his arms full of bare branches. He immediately dropped the stack onto the sandy floor before quickly piling a few branches into the fire pit. “I didn’t bother with any kindling,” he commented before looking at me. “Light it,” he commanded.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You seem to be missing a few words in that sentence.” I muttered.

Quake nodded. “Sorry. Light it,  _ or else _ . Does that work for you?”

There was a brief silence as we glared at each other. Then I unceremoniously spat a single ember into the pile of branches. They caught almost immediately filling the darkening cave with yellow light and the cheerily crackling of flames. I couldn’t help but relax as I saw them. Fire was an ally, part of me. 

The other two reappeared soon enough, one clutching a tall metal bucket full to the brim with water, and the second carrying a metal box with a blue stone embedded in the lid. He pushed it towards Quake as soon as he entered the cave. “Ugh, those are so uncomfortable to carry,” he grumbled wringing his hands, “I can barely feel my fingers.”

“Hey, an Ice box means fresh food,” Quake consoled, “would you rather have dry rations?” He didn’t wait for an answer as he set the box on the ground and opened it. I could see mist rising from it as it opened, but that was nothing compared to what it contained. There were dozens of berries on top. Below them was a huge side of beef, and a few more basic things like potatoes and a few greens. 

Without asking permission, I reached over and grabbed a Pecha berry from the top of the box. I rolled it between two of my claws. The skin was cold to the touch, and my body heat caused mist to form across the surface. I bit into it, almost sighing as the sweet juices exploded into my mouth.

“Impressive isn’t it?” Quake smirked. “Bet you haven’t seen anything like this before have you? Don’t have any ice boxes at your Expedition Society?”

“How does it..?” I mumbled. Quake spun the box around and lifted the lid, showing me the blue stone embedded in it. I felt a chill run through my body as the cold blue light washed over me. I could just make out a large blue snowflake encased in the stone. 

“Ice stone,” Quake laughed. “Now go sit down. Unless you want to cook dinner.”

Quake worked for over an hour, but it was worth it considering the savory stew he had ended up making. Vix had tucked into hers with gusteau, but I hesitated when Quake offered me some. There are so many ways he could have tampered with mine. I knew for a fact that Smoke probably knew a Poison Type move. He could have easily spiked my bowl.

“You should take it,” Quake advised. “We don’t have many hard rations left, and we definitely won’t be wasting any more on you.”

I didn’t argue and quickly took the stew. Vix watched me with wide eyes the whole time because she had already finished hers. I ate half, and then passed Vix the rest. I looked up to see Shane staring at me.

Once dinner was finished the others began unrolling their bedrolls and settling down for bed. “How are we doing watches tonight?” Sparkle asked Shane.

Shane regarded the cave. “Obviously Crash and Stanley can’t keep watch alone, but they should be fine if they stick together.” Smoke said softly. Shane nodded. “That leaves five of us each with an hour shift. I’ll go first, and Smoke will go last, you all can figure out the rest.”

Everyone settled down, sinking into their blankets. Smoke extinguished the fire with a loud hiss before dragging his roll over to the mouth of the cave. I doubted whether he would actually sleep tonight, not when he was making sure that no matter what Vix and I did we weren’t going to escape.

I gave Vix the pillow. She curled up on top of it, using her tails as a blanket. I settled down next to her with my back pressed against hers. I let out a sigh as I tried to relax. I watched as Sparkle, the Fighters, and Quake whispered to each other trying to determine the turn order. Finally they broke apart and tried to settle down. From what I gathered, the Fighters would take the second shift. That would be the only time I might have a chance to discuss things with Vix. I only had to wait one hour.

“Slink,” Vix said tentatively. “Slink, I… um… could you...uh...I’d feel better if…”

I smiled at her before I stood up. I turned around so that I was curled around her and then lay down once again. “Thanks.” Vix purred. Soon enough Vix was asleep, but I didn’t let myself drift off. I would get one shot to talk to Vix tonight and that window could pass in an instant.

It felt like an eternity, but an hour finally passed, and it was the Fighter’s turn to keep watch. I counted out twenty minutes into their watch, then I sent a tiny Psychic suggestion into both of their minds.  _ Sleep.  _ Both of them slumped over instantly. I glanced over at Smoke. He was laying on his back with his hands folded on his chest. His eyes were closed, but I knew he was listening and waiting for the slightest sound. 

I shifted slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible, until my snout was pressed into Vix’s ear. “Vix…” I breathed.

There was a long silence, until. “Slink?” She was even quieter than I was.

I laughed to myself. Of course she was awake. “Vix, this is our only shot to talk for a while. How are you doing?”

“I’m…er…” she paused. And even as silent as the conversation had been I could hear her tone change. She lost her bravado, and she sounded like what she was. A scared kid. “Slink, why? Why did you let us get captured? Why didn’t you let me evolve?”

I bit my lip. The correct answer here wasn’t ‘because I am selfish’. “Vix, did you really want to Evolve? If you had been captured all alone, different story. I would tell you to Evolve immediately. But since we are together, I think we can use your Firestone against them. We might be able to use it as leverage.”

Vix shivered against me. “Slink… do you have a plan?”

I couldn’t lie to her on this one. “Not a whole plan. More like a bunch of ideas. I’m not sure I can put the whole thing together until I have all the information.”

We were silent for a count of five minutes. “Vix where is your Firestone?” 

“My third tail. Why? Where should I put it?”

“Tuck it between your tail and the bracelet. On the bottom, or on the side where nobody will see it.”

“Sure.” Vix grumbled to herself and twisted, tucking her tails closer to her. To anyone watching Vix was simply shifting in her sleep, but I knew she was shuffling the stone. “Okay.”

“I need to wake the Fighters up soon, or things will start looking suspicious. This may be our only chance to talk for a while. Is there anything else you want to say?”

“Slink...this might sound horrible but… of course I wish we weren’t captured, but I’m glad that you are here with me.”

I curled tighter around Vix. “I’m glad I’m with you too. Goodnight Vix. I love you.”

“I love you too Slink.”


	12. Leverage

Everything was dark. I wasn’t too familiar with the experience, but this must be what it is like to be underwater. I felt pressure on all sides of me, but at the same time time I felt weightless. I thought I could hear something on the edge of my perception, but everything was muted. Tranquil. I couldn’t tell which way was up. 

I opened my eyes, even though it felt like each eyelid weighed a thousand pounds. I looked around, but I could only see darkness in each direction. Except one. Up. Above me I could see a bright light. It hurt, but I forced myself towards it.

As I got closer, the world got brighter and clearer. The water seemed to vanish around me. I became aware of a screaming in my muscles and an itchy feeling around my nose. There was a constriction around my throat that inhibited my breathing. Just before I reached the light, I realized what was happening. It wasn’t water I had fought through, it had been thick black smoke. Dark Void! 

In an instant awareness shot back to me. The world blacked out once again as I opened my eyes for real to find myself inside of a thick cloth sack. Or at least my head was. I was draped over someone’s shoulder, and from the burning in my muscles, I had been there for some time. Despite how difficult it was though I made sure to keep my body limp and my breathing even.

“...Carrying them anyway?” A voice boomed in my ear. It took all of my willpower not to flinch away. 

“Because we can’t let them know where our base is,” Shane grumbled.

“They are both out of it,” the Pokemon carrying me muttered. I’m fairly certain that it was Quake, although I wasn’t certain. “Isn’t the Fennekin going to die?” He bumped me on his shoulder. “What does it matter if he sees anything? And the Navigator isn’t going anywhere.”

Smoke answered in a voice that begged silence. “Escape isn’t impossible. Neither is outside communication. All it would take is one word from either of these two, and the whole of the Expedition Society would be knocking on our doors. Do you think for even a second that the Espeon won’t come for them?”

I couldn’t see him, but I knew that Smoke was staring accusingly at Shane.

Silence fell. I took it as an opportunity to try and learn something about our location. The air was cold and humid. It had to be early to mid morning. I wondered how long I had been out. I gauged Quake’s movements. Hit footsteps were firm, firmer than they probably needed to be. His stance was wider too. We were headed downhill. 

I tried to map in my head. Last night we had been on the bottom slopes of the Crimson Peak. In order for us to be going downhill we were either within the volcano or descending the opposite slope. Then again, I had no idea where we actually were. They could have taken us anywhere while we were out. Unfortunately there was nothing more I could learn while I was stuck like this. I briefly considered revealing that I was awake, but I decided against it. While I was still “asleep” I had an advantage. No matter how slight. 

“Hey Quake? You need a break?” It was definitely one of the Fighters. Crash I think.

“No, I’m good,” came the response. “Stanley, you good?”

“Yeah, this Vulpix is lighter than a feather. Although this stupid bracelet of hers is cutting into my arm!”

I had an internal panic attack. If they took that bracelet off of Vix; best case the Firestone would simply fall off leaving us with nothing. Worst case, the Hatred would find it and kill me on the spot!

I had to do something to distract them. Before I could even come up with a plan I heard a groan. Vix’s groan. She mumbled a few incoherent words, before suddenly shouting. I heard a few smacks, then I heard Vix strike out. A few shouts from the Hatred members. Then Vix yelped.

I instantly tensed up. Was she hurt? What had they done to her? Then I realized my mistake. I tried to fall limp again, but Quake bucked me off his shoulder. I tumbled to the ground landing squarely on my back. “It seems the Fennekin is awake too.”

The cloth was ripped from my head in an instant leaving me blinking in the sudden light. I looked around blearily and found Vix lying on her back with her fourth tail pinned under the Throh’s foot. He didn’t seem to have broken it, but Vix definitely felt it considering the pained whines she was making.

“Hey, let her go!” I said rolling to my feet.

“She attacked me,” Stanley said. I looked over at him and couldn’t help but grin as I saw the long slash Vix had left in his cheek.

I grinned at him. “I’d say you deserved it.” My expression turned darker. “Imagine what you would do if you woke up with a bag over your head. She was simply scared. Now let...her...up!”

“Let the girl up,” Shane said, “we need to keep moving. The sooner we get back to HQ, the sooner we don’t have to babysit these two.”

Reluctantly Crash lifted his foot and Vix scrambled away from him. She ran directly to me and then lay between my forelegs shivering, her tails wrapped around her like a blanket. I glanced up at Smoke who glared at us, but he didn’t do much else. He must have decided that we couldn’t exactly accomplish anything by simply being together.

“Vix, you good?” I asked softly. The little fox nodded through the tears trailing down her muzzle. “C’mon Vix. We gotta go.”

She started moving, albeit reluctantly. She never strayed more than a step from me, and she was constantly shooting glances at me, as if to make sure I was still there. I watched closely the entire time. Every move, every sound had her tucking her ears and her tails retreating between her legs. It broke my heart to see such a frightened little girl where my proud Vix should be.

I wondered once again if I had made the right choice. There was still time. I could have her out of this in a second. One word would free her… and kill me.

“Shane, how much longer ‘till we get there?” I asked.

“We should be there by noon. Sparkle went ahead and warned them that we were coming. We just have to...er...make a stop first…”

“What kind of a stop? Why would we make a stop?” Nobody answered me.

We marched for another hour or so. Despite how warm it was getting, a thick blanket of fog still surrounded us. That definitely frustrated me to no end. Smoke and Shane had been right. I wanted to know exactly where they were taking me. If I had any opportunity to tell Eve, I would take it. But even when the sun had reached its zenith the myst still stubbornly hung around. I didn’t understand it, until I looked back. Smoke was at the back of the group; both of his arms extended. A pulsing blue light surrounded both of his palms.

Mist, not mist! He was making the fog!

Jokes on him though. Despite his best efforts, there was one thing he couldn’t hide from me. We were still heading downhill!

Suddenly Shane stopped. The rest of us just barely managed to stop before we ran him over. He was staring intently into the distance. He cocked his head. “Smoke,” he barked, “can I get a little room here.

The Greninja didn’t say anything, but he shot Shane a dirty look before slowly lowering his hands. The fog fell away around us, until we were standing in a ten foot clear circle. At least it was supposed to be a circle. In one direction there was no fog at all. Instead there was a tell-tale shimmer in the air. 

“A Mystery Dungeon? Really? Was there no other way around?” They ignored me again. Shane wandered up to the limit of the Dungeon and then hesitated. He looked back at Vix and me before nodding to himself.

“We should put the girl to sleep again.” He said casually, as if he was suggesting that we all get a pizza. 

“What?” I snapped stepping between Vix and Shane. “Hold on a second…”

But I didn’t account for Smoke. With my back turned he blew a single wisp of thick, black smoke at Vix. As it engulfed her, Vix gasped instinctively and promptly collapsed.

“What the hell was that for?” I snapped. “This is a Dungeon. Vix could get us through it in five minutes. Isn’t that what you wanted her for?”

“In this Dungeon, I don’t want her to see.” Shane said before he crossed into the Dungeon. “Somebody grab the girl,” he called back over his shoulder. Quake made to grab her, but I growled at him. 

“Back off! I’ll carry her!” Quake stepped away looking nervously at Smoke. The Greninja nodded softly. Quake backed off letting me lift Vix onto my back. Unlike when I tried to carry Eve this way, I was actually able to lift Vix onto my back. She was much lighter than Eve (don’t tell Eve I said that), and the lack of blood flowing onto my fur was a welcome change. Still as we passed into the Dungeon I hated that she was riding on my back rather than walking by my side. We were in a Dungeon, and I missed the advantage that she gave me.

The Dungeon felt weak as we entered it, like there were only one or two other realities pushing down on us instead of the typical ten or twelve. This was further supported as we walked through what seemed to be just an open field. Eventually though we arrived at a wall. No not a wall, a hedge. It was perfectly manicured, not something that you would expect to see in a Mystery Dungeon. We walked along the wall for a while before we found a gap in the hedge. It wasn’t a singular hedge. It was a maze. 

Shane led the way in, but I hesitated for a moment before following.Why were we going through the maze? From what I could see the maze was a big circle, so we could just as easily go around. I felt a sinking feeling as I followed Shane into the labyrinth. The hedges seemed to grow as we moved forward. To the point where after two turns I could see nothing but bleak, green shrubbery with a small blue rectangle high above. The worst part is that everything looked the same in every direction. If someone spun me around I would have no idea which way I was going, or where I had been. Not that I had any clue where we were going to be fair. Not for the final time I missed Vix. 

It didn’t occur to me for a while, but once it did, I felt my heart drop. We were in a Mystery Dungeon, but we had yet to turn back. Shane didn’t hesitate at any turns. He didn’t get lost. As far as I had seen we hadn’t made any wrong turns. Shane knew exactly where he was going. He was Navigating. My blood ran cold. No this was impossible. Then an even worse thought struck me. If Shane could Navigate after all, why did he need Vix? And if they didn’t want Vix for her Navigational powers, our threat of Evolution was useless.

A small voice in the back of my head reminded me that Shane had let Sparkle lead yesterday, and she had gotten lost a few times. They weren’t Navigating then. But then again, I was certain that they were Navigating now.

It took us an hour to go through the hedge maze. The longer we lingered though, the more worried I got. We hadn’t made any wrong turns, we had been walking, really jogging, for an hour, and we still hadn’t found a stone platform. And then suddenly the maze ended leaving us in the middle of a mostly empty field. As the hedge walls faded behind us I could see a large grey blob on the horizon. 

Vix finally began to stir on my back. I allowed myself to relax. At least slightly. I wasn’t alone anymore. “Wuzzgoinon?” Vix slurred as she tried to sit up. She didn’t have the strength or the muscle control yet so she flopped back down.

“Long answer or short answer?” I muttered to myself. “We are in a Dungeon, and we just went through a hedge maze.” She nodded against my shoulder. “Relax, don’t move so much.”

She nodded again and then went limp. I completely understood. Being forcefully put to sleep was fantastic in an emergency, but it started to mess with your head and body the more it happened. It was completely disorienting to wake up from, and you didn’t fully regain control of yourself for nearly an hour after waking. I knew she would be fine, but I kept Psychic tabs on her the whole time, just making sure that she was okay. 

Suddenly Vix twisted on my back. Her forepaws were wrapped around her head, and her fur was standing on end. Her tails thrashed wildly, and she let out a blood-curdling scream!

She rolled off of my back while continuing to scratch at her head. I didn’t know what to do. It was like she was having a seizure or something! “Vix! Vix!” I shouted, but I couldn’t seem to get through to her. Then for the third time that morning a cloud of black smoke engulfed her and she fell limp.

“Wha-?” I tried to ask as Shane stepped forward to survey his work. He glanced at Vix before gesturing that I should pick her up again.

“Her abilities,” he called over his shoulder.”This Dungeon is a bit… odd. She should be fine once we get inside.”

“Inside?” I echoed. I hadn’t even noticed, but we had reached the grey splotch I had seen. About a hundred yards away was what I could only assume was the Team Hatred HQ. It was like someone had scooped the top off of a hill, and poured in a thick cement cap as a replacement. The whole thing was dome-shaped and made out of thick, slate-grey stone. It looked like a meteor that had crashed to Earth based on the huge slabs of ground that stuck up around the base. Nestled deep within the gap between those slabs was a gigantic metal door with the evil, black, tree symbol above it.

As we approached the door yawned open seemingly of its own accord. I shivered as I passed underneath it. It felt like a monster swallowing me whole. Before we went inside, I looked around at what could be my final glance at the sun. What seemed like a mile away I could see the hedges, but outside of the hedge maze I could see something. Reaching up to the sky was a uniform line of mountains. Were they the Scales? Were they the Crimson Peak? Before I had enough time to look around properly, the great iron door smashed closed.

I blinked in the sudden loss of light. The only illumination here were lines of long fluorescent tubes lining the ceiling.

But what was worse was the overwhelming presence I felt all around me. We were well and truly in the lion’s den now. We were in a hall that seemingly ran down the whole diameter of the dome. Dozens if not hundreds of other halls branched off from it in seemingly every direction, but what was terrifying for me were the shiny Pokémon wandering every which way. \

I counted at least eighty before I gave up. There were so many, with every type of Pokémon being represented. Flying types flitted around the lights overhead. Bugs scuttled along the floors and, more often than not, the walls. Bipeds carried carts and bags, while Rapidash, Zebstrika, and Mudbray dragged carriages full of boxes and occasionally other Pokemon from one end of the bunker to the other. 

As the door slammed shut behind us those nearby turned to see who had returned. “Shane! Smoke! Hey guys.” The shouts came from all sides as Shane led our little party deeper into the bunker. 

“Shane, how’d the mission go?”

“Quake, you get any good hits in this time?”

“Yo, Crash! You’ll have to come over this weekend. A bunch of us are gonna watch the game together man!”

The farther we went, the more Hatred members noticed Vix and me.

“Hey, who are they?”

“Is that the Vulpix? Whoa, you guys finally caught her?”

“Fennekin!”

The word echoed in the corridor. I shivered as the crowd began to whisper. They didn’t sound happy. I didn’t even need my Psychic to know what they were thinking, but I reached out anyway. 

I’d heard in the past of stoning. An ancient method of execution where a crowd would throw stones at a criminal until they had been bludgeoned to death. That was what hearing their thoughts was like. A mental stoning.

_ Kill Him! _

_ What is  _ _ he _ _ doing here?  _

_ Why hasn’t Shane killed him already? _

_ Monster! _

_ Haven’t you done enough? _

_ Kill! _

_ Kill! _

_ Death! _

_ Death! _

_ Death! _

_ KILL HIM! _

_ KILL HIM!  _

_ KILL! _

My Psychic saved me. The Yanmega made no sound except for the buzz of its wings as it flew at me, its stinger extended. I briefly forgot that Vix was on my back as I danced aside to avoid the attack. I reached back and tipped Vix back onto my back before she could fall. I glared at the Dragonfly, and it hissed at me in response. It shot at me once again, thrusting its stinger at me. I ducked aside again, but it still managed to tag me on my back left leg. I was fairly certain that it was only a scratch, and I knew that it wasn’t Poisonous.

I quickly changed to Fire and sent a wave at the Dragonfly, hoping to at least scare it away. It hopped aside and hissed once again even as the tips of its wings started to smoke. I knew it would have tried to sting me again, but Shane pounced on the Bug. “Enough!” The Umbreon’s growl made my blood run cold. Shane batted away the struggling Yanmega who buzzed off into the depths of the Bunker to avoid the angry Umbreon.Shane turned angrily to address the Hatred congregation. 

“Everyone listen up,” he shouted. Almost every one of the milling Pokémon fell still and silent. I was amazed at the amount of power Shane seemed to hold. “Yes this is  _ the _ Fennekin. But he is under  _ my  _ protection for the next two days. He requested a couple of days to get his affairs in order. I felt that was fair. After this we will have an official public execution and be rid of him once and for all! Nobody is to touch him until then. Understand?!” Shane’s announcement echoed through the halls. There was silence for a moment; then there was cheering. Applause.

I could feel my heart pounding in my ears. The amount of malice and, well, hate I felt projected at me was shocking. What had I done? Why did all of these Pokemon hate me so much?

I was vaguely aware of Quake, Smoke, and Stanley herding me out of the throng and into one of the side corridors. We wandered along for a few minutes before we reached a T-crossroads. The corridors stretched in both directions as far as I could see. These halls weren’t as well lit as the others. Small sections were completely dark. But I could clearly see that all of the doors along the way were made of thick steel. These were cells. A prison. 

And then they took Vix away from me.

Quake snatched her sleeping form right off of my back and began walking down the right corridor. I tried to follow, but Smoke threw out a leg blocking my path. No! I couldn’t lose Vix too! I tried to dive at Quake, somehow hoping to get Vix back, but Stanley caught me. I instinctively lashed out with Fire, my fur catching alight. The Fighter immediately let go of me, patting out the flames on his arms. I charged again, before I was suddenly pinned to the ground by the huge mass of water that suddenly crashed down on me. 

I was choking, I was sputtering. I had no idea which way was up. I felt an iron-like grip on the nape of my neck, the fingers digging in and breaking my skin.  _ Crash,  _ one of the thick steel doors slammed open, and I was suddenly falling. The rough concrete floor met me far too fast, and I just lay there dazed and defeated. Alone as the door slammed shut. 

I still don’t know how long I was laying there. It was cold and dark in my cell. If I didn’t have the cool smooth concrete pressing against my cheek I wouldn’t know which way was up. I felt miserable. They had taken my Fire, in more ways than one. At this point I felt like just giving up. Just let them kill me. Vix would evolve and get to go home. 

No. That didn’t work for me. I had made a promise. I promised Eve, I promised Vix, and I promised my father. My fur began to steam as my anger grew. The Hatred hated me. They thought I was a monster. Fine. If that’s what they wanted, I could be what they wanted. They wanted to kill me anyway, might as well go all the way. It was time to lay all my cards on the table. I honestly didn’t care what happened to me, but I was going to fix this. I was going to die anyways. I had nothing to lose. It was time to go for broke! 

I was completely dry as I sat up. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down. Fire couldn’t help me right now. I needed Psychic. It took longer than it should have, but eventually I felt the heat fade and then a growing chill. I reached out with my mind, searching for a familiar aura. Eventually I found it, ten cells down and across the row. Vix’s mind was still dormant, and the dark fog in it was so think I knew she wouldn’t wake for another hour or so. That was fine. I set up a Psychic connection and then returned to my own head.

I blindly fumbled my way to the door. As soon as I felt ice cold steel beneath my paw I prepared myself for the next step. I took a deep breath before shouting, “HEY, I NEED TO TALK TO SHANE!” Silence. There was a chance that nobody was there, but I was willing to bet that  _ someone  _ was watching the door. “I NEED TO TALK TO SHANE!” Still nothing. Fine. I wasn’t planning on asking nicely. I gathered up as much Psychic as I could before firing it at the door as hard as In could. It wasn’t drastic, but I dented the door. And even if nobody noticed that, the gong-like crash I produced guaranteed someone would take notice.

I waited for a response, but after five minutes there was nothing. I tried psyching myself up for another strike when suddenly the door flung open. Smoke glared at me with a dark fire in his eyes. “Enough. Be quiet.” 

I raised an eyebrow at him. I smirked, opened my mouth, and screeched as loud as I could. “ _ I NEED TO TALK TO SHANE! _ ” Then I shot the Psychic power I had gathered at him. It couldn’t affect him, but it could move the metal door. It took almost everything Smoke had to avoid being smashed in the door. 

I shouldn’t have been surprised when Smoke lashed out at me. A wave of Darkness shot from his hand. It knocked me back a little, but it also dissolved any Psychic energy I had gathered. He sneered at me before slamming the door again. 

I wonder why he seemed to think I was going to quit. It took the better part of an hour before I was able to summon any Psychic power, and the rest to gather the energy I needed. “I NEED TO TALK TO SHANE!”  _ Crash!  _ “I NEED TO TALK TO SHANE!”  _ CRASH! _ Twice more Smoke returned and took my Psychic away, and twice more I patiently waited for it to return before continuing. 

Finally a slot at about eye level in the door slid open with a loud screech. Well halfway open. The door was too badly dented for it to open all the way. If nothing else I had done a number on the door. Smoke’s red eyes glowed through the gap. “What do you want?”

“I’m sorry, did you not hear me? I want to talk to Shane!” We met eyes, neither of us willing to look away. Finally Smoke disappeared with a growl. I couldn’t be certain, but I was confident that he had gone to find Shane for the purpose of shutting me up at least. In the meantime I settled down to wait. 

I felt a small buzz in the back of my head. Vix was awake! I closed my eyes and focused my power on the connection. I probably put way too much Psychic power into the connection, but I wanted some warning if someone decided to butt in. 

_ Slink?  _ The voice was weak, but it was definitely Vix.

_ Vix. Thank Arceus. Are you okay? No more... _ I trailed off, letting my memory of her seizure play out. 

_ No, I’m fine. I think. _

_ What happened? Why did you… you know…? _

_ It was weird Slink. It was like what I see when I’m in a Dungeon, but more. This place isn’t normal. It doesn’t act like anywhere else I’ve been. My sense of where I was and even who I was was thrown off by what I could see. _

_ And what could you see? _

There was a pause.  _ I don’t quite know. Too much and not enough? I don’t know. _

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.  _ Well I’m glad you are okay. Look Vix, I’m going to reveal our hand soon. _

_ What?  _ Vix said sounding equal parts indignant and scared.  _ Now? _

_ Yes, we have to do this now. I refuse to be separated from you. If it works, we will be together soon. _

_ And if it doesn’t?  _ Vix wasn’t being pedantic. I could feel her fear. 

_ It will work. It has to. Don’t worry. Here is the plan… _

I just barely managed to tell Vix the whole plan before I heard voices in the hallway. I quickly returned to myself just as the door scraped open.

“This better be good Fennekin!” Shane snapped. 

“It is,” I reassured him. “I just wanted to request that I get moved to Vix’s cell.”

The Umbreon looked at me like I was crazy. “No.” He turned to leave. 

“I think you should think about it. Or else.” 

Shane turned back to me shaking his head. “Empty threats aren’t going to do anything. Nice try. Now shut up and try to enjoy your last few days.”

I raised an eyebrow at Shane. “So much for asking nicely. It isn’t an empty threat Shane. Let me go to Vix or there will be consequences. In fact there are a few things that you are  _ going  _ to do.”

We were almost exactly the same height, but Shane tried to puff himself up to look larger. “You are our prisoner! What about that don’t you understand? We are in charge, and you should be grateful that you are still alive right now. Why should we do anything you say?”

_ Ready Vix?  _ Out loud I said, “Well if you don’t… I guess you are going to lose Vix too.”

Shane froze. I definitely had his attention. Then he suddenly broke out laughing. I felt a sudden shot of fear, but I ignored it. “You really had me going for a moment there Slink. You have nothing just admit it.”

He didn’t believe me. Fine.  _ Now!  _ I met Shane’s eyes. “Three, two, one.” I pointed at the door just as Crash appeared. 

“Shane…” he panted, “the girl just… almost… she glowed… and…”

“Spit it out!” Shane snapped.

“We were watching the girl like you told us. Then she just started glowing. She was evolving. We rushed in and she stopped, but she told us that if we touched her she would evolve again!”

Shane turned to me. From the look in his eyes, he would have killed me on the spot had it not been for the threat of Vix’s Evolution. “How?” he snarled.

This was the point of no return. I had to lie, and they had to buy it. I felt sick to my stomach. “You may have searched Vix’s outsides, but that isn’t where we hid it. Nurse Candice told us that it would be perfectly safe for Vix to swallow a Firestone. It will stay in her stomach until she chooses to use it.” I shrugged. This was the most risky part of the plan. Despite my threats there was always a chance that the Hatred would search Vix and this time they would probably find the stone. Unless I convinced them it was completely out of their reach. “You are funny, thinking that we just gave her a Firestone.”

I grinned as I met Shane’s gaze. He was practically fuming. If he had been a Fire type, he would be on fire. As it was he was radiating oily smoke. Finally, he deflated. “What do you want? You do realize that no matter what, eventually we will kill you. Even if it means losing the Vulpix’s power.”

“That is fine,” I said, “you can kill me just as soon as you are done with her. Once I see you let her go, you can kill me. Until then we are going to set up some ground rules. One, Vix and I will be kept together at all times. If we are apart for more than an hour,”  _ boom,  _ “she evolves.” I slapped my paw on the ground to emphasize the point. “Nobody is to so much as touch her. If they do…”  _ boom!  _ “I currently have a Psychic connection open with Vix. If it is interrupted,”  _ boom _ , “if someone starts listening in,”  _ boom,  _ “or if we are somehow unable to communicate with one another, well you know what will happen. If anyone tries to get us while we are sleeping, or tries to put us to sleep-”

“She Evolves, we get it!” Shane snapped bitterly. “Is that it.”

I was about to nod, when I realized one more thing. “You have to promise me that whatever happens, if anything happens to me you need to take Vix back to Eve. Don’t just let her go, give her back to Eve. Please.”

Perhaps it was a moment of weakness, but Shane’s expression softened by a degree. “Of course. Now ‘Your Highness’ I’ll take you to Vix. Let’s go.”

I tried not to show how excited I was as Shane led me from the room. I did take the time to smirk at Smoke as we walked by.

“I better not hear from you again!” Shane snarled at me as he unlocked and opened the door to Vix’s cell.

“You won’t,” I said, “but first you should take me to her actual cell Shane. I already told you that we have a connection. I know where she is.” The Umbreon looked pissed that his last shot to win had failed. 

“Fine,” he snarled as he slammed the door and opened the one just next door. “Now get in there!” 

“Gladly,” I mumbled as I pushed past him. The door was closed behind me with a  _ clang  _ but I honestly didn’t care. “Vix!” I called looking frantically around for her.

“Slink!” I heard her scream. Then suddenly I was on my back with the little Vulpix laying on my chest, nuzzling desperately up under my chin. 

I wrapped my forpaws around her. “Its okay Vix. I’m here. We are going to be fine.” As I got to my feet I looked around the cell. If this place was going to be our home for a while, we were probably going to become very familiar with it. 

Vix’s cell, unlike mine, must have been on the outer edge of the bunker because we had a window. Since there weren’t any lights in the room it was the only source of any illumination. It was at the top of the wall near the ceiling and there were five huge iron bars across it, but it was still a window. In the back right corner farthest from the door was a pile of fresh (I hoped) straw that the Hatred clearly intended for us to use as a bed. In the front right corner was a foul smelling hole in the ground. I hoped it would be a while before we would need to use it. The walls seemed to be made of rough cinder blocks with a strong grey mortar between them.

I carefully levitated myself up to the window, taking a hold of the ledge with my paws and bracing my back paws against the wall. It turned out that we weren’t on the outer edge of the base. Instead we were looking inward at what looked like a courtyard. It was mostly covered, but there was a large circular skylight in the center where the sunlight was coming from. Unfortunately I couldn’t tell what was in the courtyard, as what little light that came through the ceiling was red. I hadn’t realized it, but the sun was just about to set. 

“What did you see? What is in the courtyard?” Vix asked as I dropped down. 

“I couldn’t tell.” Then I was struck by what she just said. “Wait a minute, how do you know that it is a courtyard?”

Vix blushed and then despite everything she got an impish grin. When she spoke she was almost whispering. “I told you this place was weird. It almost feels like a Dungeon.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can see. I can see the whole layout of this base. I can’t see anyone, or anything but the room layout, but I can see.”

I lit up. I thought I had played all of our cards, but it turns out we had just been dealt a new ace. “Vix, have I ever told you how amazing you are?”

“You could stand to mention it more,” Vix smirked.

I laughed as I pulled her into a hug. “You are amazing Vix. And you are so brave. Thank you for trying to stay strong. I am so proud of you.”

“Thanks,” she said sheepishly. 

“Vix, we are going to get through this. Eve will find us. I know she will.” I hugged her tighter to my chest. “I love you Vix.”

“I love you too, Slink.”


	13. Capable

The nightmares were terrible. 

Screams. Vix’s screams. Eve’s screams. Abby. Sierra. All of them in incredible pain. Scenes of violence, of fear, and of torture appeared before my eyes.

A silver operating table stood in a sterile white room. Pure, except for the blood splattered across the floor. Large flat discs covered in lights surrounded the table, some even stretching down from the ceiling to hover only feet from the table. As I watched a green Chancey burst through the doors, rolling Vix along on a stretcher. Vix’s eyes were open, but she didn’t move. She didn’t react to any of the noise, or even squint her eyes to block the light. In fact her eyes were glassy and dull. Only the slow, almost invisible, rise and fall of her chest convinced me that she was even alive. The little fox was transferred to the table as the Chancey picked up a blade.

Eve wiggled desperately against her bonds, even as the ropes dug painfully into her legs. All four of her limbs were twisted into painful, cramped positions. There was absolutely no slack in the ropes. It didn’t matter if her lashings caused permanent damage by cutting off her circulation, she wasn’t a prisoner. The Greninja, Smoke, walked up to her,climbing the stack of oil-soaked logs that were piled under Eve. Each step was complimented by a loud clatter as the logs shifted under his weight. In his right hand he held a blazing torch. The two met eyes as the Greninja smiled. Then he vanished, the flickering flames illuminating Eve’s face as the torch began to fall.

The moon was full, but the thorny, twisted branches of the trees obscured it. Shallow pools of silver dotted the ground; the only remains of the forest-strangled light. Abby sprinted through the pools, her red fur and skin seeming to glow impossibly in the dark. She was panting hard, painfully hard. She didn’t seem to be following any kind of path. As thick tree trunks loomed out of the darkness, the Absol was forced to dance aside while continuing the mad dash. Once or twice she wasn’t fast enough and she slammed into a tree. I could see gashes all over her body that served as painful reminders of these mistakes. Her labored breathing seemed to echo forever in the deathly silent forest, but far behind her I could just make out another sound. Wood splintered and trees vanished from the sky with every booming footstep. It was chasing Abby.

Sierra crawled through a nearly pitch black tunnel. He could barely move his limbs, and his sides scraped against the earthen walls of the tunnel. The air was filled with dust, and small cascades of soil choked him every time he inhaled. Sierra shimmied a few feet then paused as he gathered his hind legs beneath him in order to push himself forward again. He inch-wormed a few more feet, before the whole world began to shake. Sierra flinched as soil began to cascade around his head. He wiggled more, forcing himself to move faster. “Abby,” he screamed through a mouthful of dirt. He managed to pull himself a few more feet before the earth shook once again with a ear bursting  _ boom!  _ The walls didn’t just crumble, they collapsed. Sierra desperately clawed his way forward as the tunnel imploded behind him. His tail was buried, then his hind legs. The last I saw of Sierra was his red eyes, filled with terror, before they were smothered with earth.

I was dragged into another hellscape. “Please, let it stop!” I screamed in my head, or out loud. I wasn’t sure which was which.

I opened my eyes, but instead of another vision of death, I was in a void. It was pitch black, but I got the impression of openness around me. The only feature in the endless expanse was a tiny orange flame only a few feet in front of me. 

It grew and shrank in a way that made me feel as though it was breathing. The tall, thin shape wiggled and danced without even a breath of wind surrounding it. 

I stepped closer. I couldn’t help it. Fire was an ally, a part of me. There was no way it could hurt me. At least, I hoped. 

I sat as close as I could to the Fire, and I felt it drift towards me, like we were long lost friends or something. I was grateful for the company, or any comfort in what was surely the end of time. 

_ “Wake Up!”  _ I jumped as I heard the voice. It was small and very high. There was also something about it, the way things were pronounced, that gave me the impression that the speaker was young. Very young. 

_ “Wake Up!”  _ There it was again. Two words, like a whisper on the wind. But despite how quiet they were, it felt as though they weighed a thousand pounds each. They distorted the world around us somehow. 

I looked around but there was nobody there. It was just me and the flame. 

_ “Wake Up!”  _ The voice came again. But this time I knew the source. As each word was spoken, the small flame at my side flared slightly. I stared at it, but that was it. Two words. I got down closer, so my snout was nearly in the fire. I inched closer to it, and the instant my nose touched the flame, it exploded. White flames washed over me, and for the first time in my life I experienced pain from the heat. 

_ “Wake Up!”  _ Came the scream as the fire engulfed me.

I was on my feet in an instant, breathing hard. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what I had just seen. I looked around the room, but everything was as it was supposed to be. Sunlight streamed in through a small split in the curtains. Eve was curled up tightly on the bed, the Expedition Gadget still sandwiched between her paws from last night. 

I was surprised that I hadn’t woken her up yet, especially after I woke up screaming. I closed my eyes and lay back down at the foot of the bed, my paws rubbing my temples. It had just been a dream, right? Just my brain trying to come to terms with what had happened yesterday, right? 

A shiver ran down my back, like an ice cold finger tracing down my spine. 

“Slink?” Came Eve’s voice. I opened my eyes and turned to look at her. She had lifted her head from the pillow to regard me, but she was still curled up on the bed. The screen of the Expedition Gadget was alive in her hand, but the look on her face said that there was nothing to report.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” I asked. I stood up and moved to sit next to her. 

“Kinda,” Eve said. She looked down at the Gadget once again. I wasn’t sure what to say. It felt like there was something in my stomach trying to eat its way out. I suddenly became aware of a horrible, metallic taste in my mouth. “Why were you shouting?” Eve asked.

“Oh, I was-”

Eve cut me off. “Nevermind, that was a stupid question. Nightmares woke me up so many times last night too. Not that I slept well anyway.”

I nuzzled up to her, but I didn’t say a word. Neither of us did. We both could only really focus on one thing right now, but the Expedition Gadget remained still and silent.

Eventually something made noise. My stomach gave a huge rumble, and Eve’s head snapped around to look at it, as if she expected Kegan to send us a message through my digestive system. 

I heaved a sigh. “Eve, we aren’t helping anything by staring at the stupid thing. Kegan will message us when he has news. There is nothing more that we can do. Killing ourselves here won’t do anything for Vix.”

“Well then, what do you suggest?” Eve asked not taking her eyes off of the Gadget.

I felt terrible suggesting it, but I knew it was what we had to do. “Let’s go get breakfast. We can get some food, we can even get Sierra and maybe Abby some, and whenever that thing rings we can go immediately to the Expedition Society.”

We were silent again for a few moments before Eve finally turned to look at me. “I guess you are right. We probably should get some food considering we haven’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday. And Arceus knows Sierra wouldn’t dare leave Abby to get himself something to eat.” Eve shakily got to her feet. “Thanks Slink, I’m glad one of us is still thinking rationally.”

“Eve,” I said trying to be reassuring, “Candice brought both of us back from the brink. She can fix anything okay, and if they needed something like blood, or your Morning Sun they would have contacted us. Vix is going to be fine. She has to be. We just have to have a little hope.”

“I know,” she said hanging her head. “I just-” her voice broke “- I don’t know what I would do if this doesn’t work. I don’t know what I would do if Vix or Abby are hurt permanently, or if they don’t make it, or…”

She trailed off, her shoulders quivering. I decided it would probably be best for her to take her mind off Vix for at least a moment. “Why don’t you pack up our bags for today?” I suggested. “I don’t expect that we’ll come back here for a while. I have to go to the bathroom, okay?”

She nodded slowly, but didn’t speak. I slipped from the room and into the bathroom. I hopped up, propping my forepaws on the sink and using my left paw to turn on the water. I didn’t have to use the bathroom, I just needed to get the horrible taste out of my mouth. 

I lapped up some water and swished it around before spitting it out into the sink. I froze. The water swirling down the drain was bright red. I raised my head until I met my reflection’s gaze. I opened my mouth, and nearly lost my balance. My tongue was completely black, and each of my teeth were a deep brown color. Everything was coated, stained, with blood.

I barely made it to the toilet before I lost my stomach. I froze again once I saw my sick. Floating around in the bile were long brown strings that looked a lot like coffee grounds. Blood, it was blood, and I knew it wasn’t mine.

I lost my stomach again, and again, and again. The water was running constantly as I desperately tried to wash it out, to clean the blood from it. Memories flashed before my eyes. Terrible memories. I could recall the taste of fresh blood, and the odd sensation as it pulsed down my throat. I could feel the crunch of bones and arteries in my jaws, and the slowly weakening struggles as Sparkle tried to get away. 

I don’t remember collapsing into the corner, I don’t remember the door opening. My breath came in short gasps that failed to fill my lungs in any capacity. I wasn’t sure if I was sobbing, or simply in shock, but all I could get in or out were little chokes of air.

Eve was there. Her forehead pressed against mine. “Shhh, shh. Breathe. You are going to be fine, but you have to breathe.” 

My heart was in my throat as I forced air into my lungs. I sucked in a huge breath and let it out as a combination of a groan and a scream. “Why?” I managed to grunt. “I killed them?” 

Eve’s voice was soft, and strangely distant as she answered. “I don’t blame you.”

I tried to pull myself back together, but I didn’t even come close. It felt like there was a frozen pit in my chest. It was a hollow empty feeling that made me violently shiver. “But I killed them, in cold blood. How…?”

“You did what you had to do. If I had been in your place, I would have done the same thing. I’m just sorry that you didn’t get more.”

My stomach rejected that thought, trying to dispel even more of its contents, but I was completely empty and all it did was make me gag. It was strange that Eve was this… bloodthirsty. I completely understood where she was coming from, but at the same time…

She knew I had been aiming for Shane when Sparkle had pushed him out of the way, and for some reason that didn’t upset her. I knew that yesterday had changed things, but I hadn’t realized that it had changed them that much.

I fought my way to my feet. “No more. There has been enough death.” I begged softly. To myself? To Arceus? To Eve? Did it really matter? Thankfully Eve didn’t argue, although I did catch a glimpse of the Expedition Gadget being held by her tail. It was a simple reminder of why I had killed.

We weren’t the only ones leaving our apartment that morning. Our neighbors across the hall (a Metang and a Typhlosion) had their door open and were arguing. I heard the words “rent”, “partner”, and “Meltan” thrown around but not much else. Further down the hall a Houndoom mother was standing in the doorway of apartment 2F calling for her son to hurry before he was late for school. 

For a moment I was jealous of these ordinary people living their ordinary lives. Then with a twinge of shame I realized that I would never wish on them anything like what I was going through. 

We ended up going to Sparky’s again. Partially because it was one of the only places open this early, mostly because it was only a couple of blocks from Society HQ. The second we got any news we were gone, and we didn’t want to have to wait for long.

Eve placed the Expedition Gadget on the table as we ate. It felt like she had put a body on the table. I felt my gaze gravitate towards it at all times. I barely tasted my omelette, and Eve hardly touched her pancakes. 

We both flinched as the screen suddenly lit up and a cheery tune started to play. Eve reached out to answer, but hesitated. She took a deep breath before pressing her paw firmly onto the screen. 

“Hello?” Kegan’s voice rang from the device as clearly as if he had been sitting there with us. “Slink? Eve?”

Eve’s mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. She had paled considerably, her fur going from heliotrope to lilac. She looked like she was going to be sick.

“We’re here Kegan.” I rasped. My mouth had gone completely dry. 

“Oh, good.” He said. He took a deep breath before continuing. “I wanted to let you both know that Vix is out of surgery. Candice is keeping an eye on her for the next fifteen minutes to make sure she doesn’t have any complications.”

“How is she?” Eve squeaked. 

Silence. A long silence followed, except for the slight crackle of the line. Finally Kegan spoke, but his voice didn’t sound like him. It was deeper, and somehow less solid. “I’m not going to lie to you guys. It’s not good. She and Abby both sustained life-altering injuries. Candice did all she could, but you can’t fix everything. I’ll tell you more when you get here.”

With that the call cut off leaving Eve and me in silence.

I offered to let Eve go ahead while I stayed and finished up at the Diner (we still had to pay and get something for Sierra) but she refused. She didn’t want to go without me. Everything felt mechanical as I counted out the money, leaving it on the table while Eve went and asked for a small order of bacon and scrambled eggs. We probably could have fed Sierra off of our leftovers. We had hardly eaten after all, but we figured it would be more considerate to get him his own order. 

Once that was all taken care of, it took everything Eve and I had to not sprint directly to the Expedition Society. Although, we did walk much faster than normal. Eventually we entered the tower-like Society HQ.

As we entered the lobby, we looked around. It was mostly empty, but Kegan was sitting behind his desk. Well,  _ was  _ sitting because as soon as we entered he got out of his chair and rushed over to us. “There you two are,” he said somberly, “so I have to tell you-”

“Tell us on the way!” I snapped as I dashed for the stairs, taking them three at a time. I could just hear Eve and Kegan scrambling to keep up with me. When I reached the doors to the hospital though I froze. Despite how much I wanted to, I couldn’t make myself go inside.

Eve stepped up next to me and wordlessly offered me her tail. I nodded numbly, as she wrapped her tail around mine. We pushed the doors open and stepped inside. Of the dozens of beds that ran the length of the room, only three were occupied. Just inside the door was a bed containing a large red mass of fur. Abby. I tried to ignore the fact that from the neck up she was completely cocooned in bandages. The bed next door to her was occupied by a matching blue ball of fuzz. Sierra snored softly, but he kicked and mumbled uneasily in his sleep. I wondered what time he had finally settled down. 

Eve gravitated towards the other end of the room. Tall mint-green screens had been erected around a bed, blocking our view of the occupant. However since Nurse Candice was standing watch outside, I knew exactly who was inside. 

It felt like I left my stomach behind as Eve and I marched towards Candice. Ahead, the length of the hospital seemed to grow, the Blissey stretching off into the distance. Part of me wanted to turn tail and run again, but I knew I had to face this.  _ Your fault! Your fault!  _ a voice chanted in my head.

_ “Fine,” Shane huffed to himself, almost growling. “Now slowly and carefully lift that bag over your head, set it on the ground, and come sit next to me!” _

_ I nodded before reaching slowly for the strap of my shoulder bag. It opened slightly as I lifted, and I could see the glow of the extra badge I had stashed in there after the whole Abby incident. I hesitated for a second. Once I took my bag off, there was no way I would be able to get it again. Was I giving up our only chance of escape? _

_It felt like a punch to the gut as I realized it. This wasn’t right. We_ could _win this. I took a deep breath in order to calm myself down. I needed every ounce of Psychic I could muster if this was going to work._

_ I spun in place so that I was facing Abby, Sierra, and by extension, the Fighters. My eyes briefly flared pink before twin bolts of Psychic energy shot towards the two Fighting types.  _

_ And then everything went wrong.  _

_ Crash, who had Abby pinned, started moving just as soon as I did. He picked up Abby by her head (it's amazing that he didn’t snap her neck in the process). The Gurdurr holding Sierra though wasn’t as fast as his friend. He had been standing with his side to me. He only managed a quarter turn before my Psychic bolt hit him. It looked as if he had been slapped by an Onyx’s tail. The flesh between his hip and his rib cage distorted and jiggled, denting into his body from the force. _

_ He cried out from pain and shock before a loud ringing  _ **_crack_ ** _ echoed through the room. His eyes glazed over, and he seemed to fold in half across the blow, past the point that should have been physically possible. He didn’t make a sound as he hit the ground. He was already dead.  _

_ I reeled back in shock. What had I just done? I had simply expected to knock him away from Sierra, not break his spine in half! Sierra either hadn’t noticed, or he wasn’t fazed. He scrambled to his feet faster than Stanley could hit the ground.  _

_ Despite his Type disadvantage, Sierra charged at the Throh that had pinned Abby to the ground again, her bright green eyes peering frightfully from between his thick orange fingers. “Stop,” he commanded nervously, “if you move any closer, she will pay!”  _

_ Sierra froze. It was a complete stalemate. I’m not proud of what I did next, and looking back I wish that I had handled it so many other ways. I reached out with Psychic and wrapped a tendril of thought around Crash’s throat.  _

_ “How about this for a plan?” I shouted. “You let the girl go, and I don’t crush your larynx. Don’t believe me? Check your buddy Stanley over there.” I could barely believe that the words were coming out of my own mouth. The Throh’s eyes widened as he became aware of the tendril I had around his throat. _

_ I forgot about Shane. _

_ A sharp pain bloomed in my leg, another in my chest, and a third in my neck. From each point a numbing sensation spread through my body, and I felt my Psychic fading. I reached out and tried to throw the Throh, getting him away from Abby at the least, but the tendril passed through his neck like it was made of smoke before fading away. _

_ I was lifted off of my feet, and dragged backwards away as Shane reeled in his Payback. Thus I could only watch in absolute horror as Crash’s shoulder pulsed. The shockwave flowed down his arm before reaching Abby. I didn’t actually see what happened, but I heard Abby cry out before her cry was immediately cut off by a wet  _ **_crunch_ ** _.  _

_ No. NO! I switched from Psychic to Fire faster than I had ever done before. The air around me exploded into flame as my red eyes flared scarlet. The spears of shadow immediately dislodged as they were eviscerated. I spun towards the Umbreon, but before I could do anything a burst of water knocked me sideways. _

_ My Fire was so intense that the water never hit me. It expanded into steam long before it struck me. The force and mass of the water however, swept me off my feet and extinguished my halo of flame.  _

_ As I looked up, I met another pair of blood red eyes. Smoke stood over me with a mass of Shadow in his hands. He smirked at me, but before he could strike he stumbled back with a bloody gash in his chest. A raving Sierra leapt over me. “That was for my daughter you bastard!” _

_ I rolled to my feet, unsure if I could even help. “Slink,” Eve suddenly screamed. Obviously Smoke had dropped her to try and eliminate me, and she was doing everything she could to both get my attention and avoid the battle ensuing around her. “Slink, they still have Vix!” _

_ Suddenly I was laser focused on the Tyrantaur I could barely see across the room. Vix was still wriggling in his grip as he sprinted towards the exit. I moved faster than I thought I could and suddenly I was in front of him. My anger had gotten hot enough to give me my fiery aura again. _

_ “Drop her now, and you may go.” I growled deep in my throat.  _

_ Quake stumbled back half a step, but he recovered quickly. He held Vix up so that I was sure to see her. “Let me by. Otherwise something...unfortunate...might happen to her.” _

_ I didn’t hesitate a second. I opened my mouth. The flames that I produced weren’t red, yellow, or orange. A brilliant white stream of flame with a bright blue core shot from my muzzle, striking the Tyranitar in his chest. He roared in pain and instinctively raised Vix to shield himself. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t even think about stopping. I guess I could say that I knew the flames wouldn’t hurt her, at least not for a while, but I couldn’t. That didn’t even cross my mind  _

_ And then he began to squeeze. Quake had Vix in a bear hug, and was squeezing his arms tighter. Vix cried out in pain, and started squirming and beating at the Tyranitar. Unfortunately she was rapidly running out of air. There was a rapid series of  _ **_pops_ ** _ , followed by twenty or so sharp  _ **_cracks_ ** _ that split the air.  _

_ Vix slumped over in Quake’s grasp. He dropped the limp Vulpix, and leered at me before slumping over. _

_ Psychic always felt limited. It was powerful and extremely versatile, but there was only so much I could do before I ran out of power and became mentally exhausted. Fire on the other end felt endless; a deep well of power that I had never seen the bottom of. _

_ In that moment, I know I got as close to the bottom as I ever had. _

_ I felt just like I had that one fateful night when everything changed. Rational thought left me, and all I could feel was a want, no a need, for revenge. Quake wouldn’t cut it, he was dead or unconscious. Either way he couldn’t properly taste my rage. There was one person who needed to pay. The ringleader, the puppet master. Shane. _

_ I turned, the entire world obscured in a red fog except for that black fur and blue rings. I shot forward, sprinting with everything I had. The last death had been an accident, this one I meant with everything I was, am, and will ever be. _

_ “Shane!” came a muffled scream. I closed my eyes as I dove. I felt something shoot by my nose, but it was too late. I wrapped my jaws around a throat, biting down and shaking my head until I felt a satisfying  _ **_crunch_ ** _ and I could feel bursts of hot blood spurting down my throat. _

_ With a feeling of victory I opened my eyes and felt my fire vanish in an instant. Hanging limply from my jaws was Sparkle. _

“Slink?” Candice was staring down at me curiously. I suddenly realized that I had been lost in my own head (an unfortunate side effect of my Psychic Type). 

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, “go on.”

Candice regarded me sadly. “As I was saying, the surgery went fine, but there was only so much that I could do.”

I could feel the anxiety radiating from Eve. “Just get on with it!” she snapped. 

Candice flinched before moving on quickly. “Well, first off fifteen of her ribs were completely broken. That isn’t the easiest thing to fix, and honestly we can only wait for them to heal. If that wasn’t enough, one of the ribs splintered and punctured her left lung. Again, I did everything I could to repair the damage. Honestly that is where most of the time spent on surgery went. I don’t think she will ever have the endurance or energy that she had before, but that should be the worst of it. Actually another rib nearly speared her heart. If it had been only a millimeter closer… we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

The Blissey hesitated before continuing. I felt my heart pounding in my throat. So far everything seemed, well not fine, but these injuries would heal and Vix would more or less be back to herself.

“But my main concern is her back. Two of her vertebrae were shattered.” My heart stopped and sank in my chest. “Both are right next to each other in her lower back. Medically there really isn’t anything we can do with it at the moment. We currently have her in an immobilizing body cast. It will eventually heal on its own.”

I could barely find my own voice, and when I did it was raspy and hollow. “What does this mean? What is going to happen to her?”

“I...I don’t know. At least not yet. Since she is immobilized I won’t know the extent of the nerve damage until she heals. She could be perfectly fine in nine weeks, or…”

“Or?” Eve whimpered to herself.

“Or she could be paralyzed from that point down. Worst case scenario, she will not be able to use her back legs or her tails again.” My legs gave out, and I felt like I was going to be sick again. I barely caught the Blissey’s next words. “Thankfully she still has that Firestone in her stomach. Once she Evolves, she should be completely healed. Of course it would also be unhealthy for her to evolve before adolescence, so she may have to wait a while. Again, I simply do not know.”

We were all silent for a while. Eve must have shut off our connection, because I couldn’t even feel her thoughts. It was fine by me. I didn’t want anyone else in my head either. “Can we see her?” I finally asked. 

Candice nodded as she took a step back, raking away the curtain with the back of her hand. Eve and I shared a glance before we stepped forward together.

I barely recognized her. Her curly bangs were flat against her head, mostly obscuring her eyes. The fur around her muzzle was dyed a deep brown from blood that had leaked from her mouth. From her neck to her tails, Vix was entombed in a stark white cast. Her legs and tails poked out, but hung limply. Her red-brown fur had lost some of its luster. It was the same color as dirt, no not just dirt. Barren soil. She seemed completely lifeless. 

I didn’t see anything else, because I ran. I ran just like that night so long ago. The night that I thought would be the worst one I would ever experience. This was almost as bad.

Because this time I did have a choice. This time I could have saved Vix and Abby. We could have left that confrontation without any bloodshed. The only one who would have needed to die was me.

But I made a selfish choice.

I was trapped in my head. As a Psychic type that meant so much more than for any other Pokémon. Every iota of my consciousness was trapped in a grey cell in the center of my mind. All I could see were images and memories of my failures. My failure as a leader, as a friend. The dozens of ways I had failed both of my families.

All I could do was stare at that single image of Vix laying motionless and broken on the bed. I could see every detail, and I knew every single particular would be burned into my mind. Especially that stupid black ring around her tail that was the cause of all of her problems. I wondered if that was why she chose to wear her bracelet on that tail, to hide that sign from the world…?

Wait a second, where was her bracelet? Kegan and Candice were both aware that it was vital that she never be separated from that thing. Then I realized exactly what the Nurse had said. “that Firestone in her stomach…” Vix didn’t have the stone in her stomach. None of this was right.

_ Wake up! _

“Slink.” came a voice that both broke me out of my thoughts and scared me half to death. I probably would have jumped, but unfortunately there was something very solid above my head. As I came back to myself I realized that I had decided to hide under the bed for some reason.

“Down here Eve,” I grumbled as I slowly crawled out rubbing my head.

Eve, to her credit, didn’t even bat an eye at where I had ended up. She did however look extremely concerned. “Slink, you just ran off. Are you okay?” She barely paused a second. “What am I asking? Of course you aren’t. I don’t think anyone would be after seeing that.” She sighed looking down at her feet. “I know it reminds you of what happened to your family. I know that you probably can’t face that again right now.

“Slink, I have to admit that I am scared. The Hatred lured us right into their trap. They are getting bolder, and more desperate. I hate to admit it, but we have to do something.”

“Like what?” I shook my head at her. “They want me dead, they want Vix, and I’m not sure anything we do will stop them from attacking again and again until they eventually win.”

She growled and stamped her foot. “We have to do something! I will not put Vix into danger anymore.” There was a pause. “Maybe we can bargain with them.”

“What makes you think that will work? What do we have that is that valuable?”

“Well,” Eve said, “when Shane was arguing with you over who he was going to take hostage, I heard Smoke muttering to himself. I’m almost certain I heard him tell Shane to get a crystal from you. Maybe we can give them that.”

I froze, my mind spinning. A crystal? I thought back to my vision, to that day in Leo’s house. What did the Hatred want with it? I remembered Leo saying that it was his trump card that he would’ve used to get the Hatred off of his back. What exactly was this crystal?

I decided to play dumb. “Eve, I have no idea what you are talking about. What crystal?”

Eve narrowed her eyes at me. “That day we met Leo. I swear we found a crystal in his house. What did you do with that?”

So they knew we had it, but they still didn’t know where it was. That was all I needed to know.

“You know Moon, maybe if you let me out of this illusion we can talk.”

“Slink,” Eve said, taking a step towards me, “what are you talking about?”

Instead of answering I gathered up as much Psychic as I could and sent it as a huge pulse of energy right at her. If I was wrong it would’ve most likely knocked her out, but I wasn’t wrong. As the bolt struck her she didn’t stumble back, she didn’t collapse, no she completely vanished.

I sent waves of Psychic in every direction. Instead of striking the walls and ceiling they impacted and stretched an invisible membrane all around me. They caught and tore at the skin, leaving huge rips in reality. Stark white light shone through these gaps. Finally I let out a burst of Psychic energy in every direction. The membrane around me bulged before shattering. I was free.

The plain white room was revealed around me as the illusion fell away. I was nearly blinded by the glaring light that filled the room and reflected off of every surface in the featureless space. The only dark spot was a wall-spanning window, through which I could see Moon’s red eyes staring back at me. 

She grinned and shook her head at me. I kept my own expression neutral as I shrugged. She laughed, before waving her hand, signalling someone. Behind me the horrible grating screech of stone scraping against stone filled the room.

I sat down, letting out a heavy sigh as the hallway door (a foot thick slab of stone that was perfectly concealed within both the interior and exterior walls) finally finished opening. In past days I would have made a break for it, but I simply sat there glaring as Smoke and Quake quickly rushed in.

“Interesting,” Moon said as she entered the room. She had put on large half-moon glasses and was rapidly writing notes on a pad of paper. “Was this the fastest you’ve ever broken one of my illusions?”

I shook my head. “No, the one where you had Eve, Vix, and me running around a carnival was the fastest.” I grinned at her. “Were you even trying that day?”

Moon regarded me over the top of her glasses with a slight smirk. “I thought you might be getting bored with my usual fare. Besides, I figured somebody should try asking nicely for the information we want. It was worth a shot.”

I will admit that Moon was probably the biggest surprise about life as a Hatred prisoner. Since they couldn’t kill me, the Hatred decided to try and find some information in my head to at least make me useful. Originally they tried to pry open my mind Psychically, but after the first “expert” tried and walked away speaking incoherently they changed tactics.

Because of our deal they couldn’t torture the information out of me, so they did the next best thing. Every day they brought me to this room that supposedly amplified Moon’s power of illusion, and she would weave an illusion around me to try and make me spill the beans.

Over the two weeks I was imprisoned, I had been put through thirteen different realities. I had broken out of seven, and in the other six Moon had dropped the illusion as soon as I figured it out.

Strangely, despite this daily hell that Moon put me through I couldn’t help but like her. She was extremely intelligent, and she reminded me a lot of Eve in the way that she devoured books. She also had a fascinating wit about her, and an insane attention to detail. I couldn’t help but think that if she hadn’t been a Hatred member I would have gladly asked her to be a part of the team.

“So, what tipped you off today?” Moon asked.

I bit my tongue. This was the tricky part. Normally the thing that helped me out of the illusions were the fact that they parroted lies I had told to the Hatred. Like with Vix’s Firestone being in her stomach. I couldn’t exactly tell Moon that my lies had tipped me off. Thankfully, despite her OCD levels of attention to detail, Moon normally got at least one detail wrong.

“The apartment number,” I told her. “I barely noticed it on the way out of the building, but when I ran back to my room I realized that I was going to the ‘wrong’ apartment.”

“Damn,” Moon said cheerfully. “So which apartment do you live in? 2C?”

I nodded. “Yep, that’s the one.”

Moon raised an eyebrow at me before shaking her head. “Would you tell me even if I was right?” I flashed a sarcastic smile at her.

“Fine,” she said, closing her notebook with a snap. “It was a delight as always, Slink. Any requests for tomorrow?”

“Can we do the carnival games again? I’m a sucker for the ring toss. All of this death and disfigurement is really getting me down.”

“I hate to interrupt,” Smoke suddenly butted in, “but the hour is almost over. We need to get the Fennekin back to his cell.”

“Of course,” Moon said waving her hand as if to dismiss us. “Bye Slink, try not to die before our next session.” She made it sound as though she was my demented therapist, or that I had any choice in the matter. Although, chalk another one up for why I liked Moon. She was the only Hatred member that used my name rather than “Fennekin” or my favorite “hey, you”.

Smoke and Quake lead me down the hallway. In any other circumstances I would have felt extremely important, walking along with two “bodyguards”. Actually that was almost accurate. Half of their job was to protect me from any ambitious Hatred member that wanted to try their luck by attempting to kill me. Of course, Smoke kept a closer eye on me than anybody else. I think he knew that I had something up my sleeve.

Most of the time it was a huge relief to get back to our cell. Today, however, it was more like seeing water after a year in the desert. I was inside only a few seconds after they unlocked the door. 

“Slink?” Vix called as I entered. I looked around, but she wasn’t anywhere that I could see. “Up here,” she said. I glanced up to see Vix perched catlike on the windowsill. She hopped off, bounded off the wall, and landed right in front of me. “Ta-dah!”

I just stared at her. In retrospect it was probably a bit creepy in the moment. Then I pounced on her.

“Slink! What the-“ Vix shouted as I tackled her. “Slink, what are you doing?” 

We had settled with me wrapped completely around Vix. I was desperately clinging to her with my face buried in her fur and tears freely streaming down my cheeks.

“Slink, seriously. What is going on? Are you okay? Was today really bad?” Her voice changed quickly from annoyance to concern.

I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. The entire time we were captured, I was trying to keep things together for her sake. Now here she was trying to comfort me.

“Yeah,” I said, “today’s scenario was a bit…” I hesitated. Vix didn’t need to know what I had seen. “It’s just really good to see you after all of that.” 

Vix purred against my chest, and I hummed. It was only about one o’clock, but today’s session of “let’s get Slink to spill his guts” had been extremely taxing. Honestly I would’ve been perfectly content just snuggling with Vix and going to bed.

Unfortunately that was the exact instant that Vix and I both heard the door being unlocked again. We both got to our feet, turning to face the door. I flinched as Sparkle poked her head in.

“What do you want?” Vix asked grumpily. On the other hand I was staring at my feet, refusing to look at Sparkle. Like Moon, I actually kind of liked the Raichu and I was especially ashamed that I had killed her in fantasy world. 

“Shane sent me. He said that he wants to talk to the Fennekin.” Sparkle seemed to be her usual cheery shelf. I wondered if Moon had told anyone what had happened in the illusion? 

“What about?” I asked. I was more curious than anything. Although with my luck, it would be Shane telling me that they were going to do whatever they wanted with Vix tomorrow and that I was about to die.

“I don’t know, he didn’t say.” Sparkle said with a shrug. “He just told me to come and get you.”

I sighed as I stepped forward, but Vix grabbed my back leg with two of her tails. “Don’t do it Slink. You shouldn’t have to do anything more. What else could they possibly do to you if you refuse?”

Separate us, kill me, I thought to myself. Out loud I said, “It’s fine Vix.” I glanced between Vix and Sparkle. “One hour, remember. Start now.”

Vix hung her head but nodded. 

I tried not to worry about Vix too much. Other than the fact that they really wanted to get the Firestone “out of her” I was certain that they didn’t want her hurt. My main concern was that she would get caught in the crossfire if anything happened.

Quake stomped silently behind me as we walked. Sparkle floated along in front of me, and she didn’t say anything either. 

“So what does Shane want to talk to me about?” I asked.

Sparkle glanced back at me over her shoulder. “I don’t know. He just told me to come and get you.”

Oh. I felt a little uncomfortable. When Smoke escorted me I expected a completely silent journey full of tension. The few times that Sparkle had taken me somewhere, she always tried to engage me in polite conversation.

I’d never started a conversation with her, but it was worth a shot. “So, how come it’s always you, Smoke, Stanley, Crash, and Quake who are always carting me around? I mean I saw the size of your organization, it seems like you guys could all take a night off occasionally or something.”

“We’re all a part of Shane’s team,” Quake said behind me. 

“Well, I’m not.” Sparkle said. “I’m just doing this as a favor for Shane. I work in electrical. I’m in charge of making sure that the base has power.”

“In that case, I think you need to double check around the prison. From what I can see a few lights are out at the least.” I meant to grumble to myself, but Sparkle must have heard me. She turned and grinned at me. “So, what is with Shane. Is he like the leader of the Hatred or what?”

Sparkle shook her head. “Not entirely. Don’t you know anything about our organization?”

“I haven’t really had a chance to ask considering every time I see you people, you are trying to kill me.”

“Everyone in our organization is divided into groups that each have a different job. Recruitment, Research, Water, Electrical. You get the gist. Each group has a leader that is elected by the rest of the group. Apparently Shane was popular. I think he is actually both the youngest leader, as well as the leader who has been in the Hatred the shortest.”

“So his team watches me and Vix twenty-four seven? What is their group’s job?”

“You,” Sparkle simply said. Oh.

“So what about Smoke?” I asked trying to change the subject quickly. “Eve told me that Smoke was the one who recruited Shane. Now he works for him?”

Sparkle shrugged. “Smoke used to be the leader of our recruitment group. In fact he’s been a part of the Hatred longer than anyone I know. He’s fast, stealthy, and is very good at surveillance. Obviously he was the best choice to locate potential new recruits and maybe give them a nudge or two in our direction if need be.

“But that changed when Shane got assigned to the group that was supposed to find and kill you. I think Shane saw Smoke as a mentor or something. When Shane got promoted to leader, he asked Smoke to join his team. Considering Smoke was already a leader, I really have no idea why he did it.”

Sparkle was silent for a moment. Then she abruptly turned to face me, coming to a dead stop in midair. She drifted down so that she was at eye level with me. “Slink, I just wanted you to know…” she paused, biting her lip. “Moon told me about how you killed me in your illusion today.”

I blushed and looked down at my feet. “To be fair, I was aiming at Shane and you guys had all but killed Abby and Vix.”

“I get it. I understand.” Sparkle drifted over and put a paw on my head. “Let’s be honest, it was probably just as much Moon as it was you. Slink, I don’t agree with everything the Hatred does to achieve its goals. I only came along on the mission to capture you because Shane asked me to. I don’t believe in kidnapping or killing in order to help shiny Pokémon.”

I wasn’t sure where this was leading, but Sparkle plowed onward. “I wish it didn’t have to happen like this, but eventually Shane, or Smoke, or somebody is going to kill you. I just wanted to let you know that it’s like when you killed me in the illusion today. I wanted you to understand.” 

I hadn’t expected that at all. I wondered if we would have been friends too had we not been on opposite sides. We met eyes, and I saw a warmth in those big blue eyes that seemed foreign on any Hatred member’s face. It gave me the courage to ask a question I had wanted to ask for a while. “Why me?” I breathed. “Why do they want to kill me?”

Sparkle instantly dropped her gaze, looking almost guilty. She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it and turned away. “We better hurry to Shane’s office. It’s already been fifteen minutes and who knows how long he’ll want to talk to you.” She zipped off down the corridor without a second thought. 

We turned down yet another hallway where a door hung open with warm yellow light pouring out of it. I was actually a bit excited. Everywhere in the base was lit with white fluorescent bulbs. The warm yellow light was a far cry from sunlight, but it was better than nothing. 

“Shane,” Sparkle called, “we’re here.” Sparkle lead me into the room with Quake stopping to stand guard outside. 

Shane was sitting behind an ornate, but still rather small, desk studying several overlapping maps. On the floor behind his desk there was what seemed to be a physical version of the Pokémon Nexus. It was a small sphere mounted in a gold frame with a map of the world  _ painted  _ on it. I scoffed at how inefficient it had to be. What happens if a new land is discovered? Are you supposed to completely repaint the map? 

Other than a few bookshelves behind the desk, the walls were lined strangely with red velvet curtains. This would have been more odd, but then I noticed that the curtains across from Shane’s desk hung open revealing that the room was much deeper than I would have guessed. I noticed a couch, TV, kitchenette, and two doors in the back that I assumed led to Shane’s bathroom and bedroom.

Shane glanced up from his desk and sat back, running a paw over his head and scratching at his ears. “Thanks Sparkle.” His eyes went wide, and he blushed slightly as he noticed that the rest of his home was on display through the curtains. “Oh hey, could you um…”

Sparkle laughed before flicking her paw and causing the curtain to jerk shut. “You seem a bit flustered today. You alright?”

“Yeah,” Shane said. “I went to grab a map from my room and I forgot to shut the curtain when I got back.”

“You could take a break for a few minutes,” Sparkle said.

Shane immediately shook his head. “No. I have a week left to find where we are supposed to go. I’ve only narrowed it down to three continents.” Shane glanced backwards at his paint Nexus, and I noticed that there was a lot of red ink all over it that definitely didn’t belong. Three continents,  Sand, Air, and surprisingly Fire, were crossed out along with countless islands that occupied the Sea of Wonders. I did notice however that one of the islands was circled with several arrows pointed at it. The twisted dark tree symbol that I was beginning to understand was the Team Hatred Symbol was stamped right next to it.

Suddenly though, none of that mattered. All of my attention was brought inwards as I felt a mind scrape against my own. I quickly raised a Psychic barrier around not only my mind, but all the way along my connection with Vix and around her mind. I waited, bracing myself for further contact, or worse a full fledged attack. 

Nothing. I waited patiently for another few minutes, but there were no other Psychic energies around me.  _ Remember the Deal,  _ I sent in the direction the intruder had come from.  _ Stay out of my head!  _

I reluctantly left my head to find that Shane and Sparkle were just staring at me. “What?” I snapped.

“Shane,” Sparkle started quickly, glaring at the Umbreon, “apparently wants to talk to you alone. I told him that that is a bad idea.”

Shane glared at me. “And I said that you would behave yourself. Won’t you?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Probably,” I grumbled, “as long as you don’t give me a reason to...misbehave.”

The Umbreon smirked at Sparkle. “See, nothing to worry about. And besides if he starts something, I can take him for however long it takes you to get in here.”

Sparkle huffed, but slowly drifted towards the door. “Quake and I will be out in the hall if you need us.”

“Thanks mom,” Shane grinned, “now please leave.”

As the door shut he turned to me. He sighed and slumped in his seat, nearly laying down in his chair. “Have a seat Fennekin.” He gestured towards a pair of stool-like chairs with green nest-like padding forming the seat. I hopped up, using Psychic to give my jump a slight boost. 

“So,” Shane grinned impishly, “I hear today’s illusion was a bit...problematic.”

“What did you want to talk to me about, Shane?” I growled. 

“Fine,” he huffed. He stared at me forcing me to meet his gaze. “According to our agreement, I feel like I should inform you. In one week we will use Vix for what we needed her for. That means you have approximately eight days left. After that time we will kill you.”

I didn’t dare to glance away, blink, or show any outward emotion. My mind was reeling though. One week. I guess it was at least three weeks longer than I could have hoped to live, but I still hated it. I didn’t want to die.

“Is that all?” I asked calmly, although my voice shook. If it was fear or anger I didn’t know. For a minute I pictured that moment in the illusion where my Fire had burned everything away but my absolute abhorrence of Shane. I imagined myself leaping over this desk and snapping his neck before Sparkle or Quake could stop me. It passed in just an instant.

Shane narrowed his eyes at me. “No. You tried to kill me in the illusion today.” It was like he read my mind. I subconsciously ran a search for that Psychic presence from earlier. “I thought you were above that.”

“Maybe you finally crossed the line for me.” I snapped. I felt myself heating up, but I took a second to cool off. Now wasn’t the time. “You’ve chased me across a continent and back. You want to kidnap or kill most of my friends, and you’ve nearly succeeded several times. You won’t just let us live in peace. And, oh yeah, you murdered my family!” 

Shane had the audacity to look confused. Not angry, not shocked, not even sadistically happy.  _ Confused!  _ “We… we didn’t…” he muttered to himself.

“What was that?” I growled. 

The Umbreon snapped from confused to angry in an instant. “How dare you accuse us of that. I can’t speak for some members of the Hatred, but my team would only kill in self defense. Other than you of course.” He said in disgust.

“You liar! Eve told me about the night you left town. What about that Vaporeon, Rob? How about Jolt? Mach?”

“What did you want me to do? They attacked me, and the Hatred defended me.”

I was shocked that I had to explain this. “You could have disabled them. Eve knocked Mach out. He wasn’t going to hurt you. Why did you have to kill him?”

There was a long silence. “What are you talking about?’ Shane gasped.

“They found him when they found Eve. His throat was slit. The Hatred were confirmed as the murderers.”

Shane shook his head, but he sounded a bit unsure. “How do you know it wasn’t that Blastoise trying to gain prestige and power? He was always out to get me. It couldn’t have been the Hatred. And the same is true for your family. It was you setting the house on fire that killed them!”

“How dare you! Shut up about my family! I would never-”

“But you did,” Shane argued. “I’m sure it was an accident, but you are the one who killed them. We were even going to let them go.”

“No. When I dropped out of the trapdoor they were alive. I was going to come back to help them and then their auras vanished. That is when I set the fire. Think about it Shane, they were Fire types. The fire wouldn’t have killed them.”

Shane glared at me. “They were all still alive when I left the room to find you. I left… Smoke to...stand...guard…” he trailed off. “Smoke…”

“Killed my family,” I snarled. “They were completely innocent in all of this. But your man killed them!”

“They were trying to hide you, that should be reason enough.” Shane wouldn’t even meet my eyes. 

“You don’t believe that. I know you don’t. Maybe you should try looking inward Shane. Why are you the good guys again?”

Shane growled at me. “Just because you don’t agree with our means doesn't mean we are the bad guys!”

I snorted. “Yeah, because you all are so innocent?”

Shane was deathly quiet. The mood in the room took a much darker tone as black smoke began to leak from Shane. “Shut up! You don’t know anything.” He turned to the side, raking the fur there up to reveal knotted scar tissue that stretched from his right shoulder blade, around his leg, stopping on the top of his paw. He carefully brushed his fur down again, covering the mark before continuing. “I had only been with the Hatred a month. They were still training me, and I hadn’t been assigned to any section yet.

“We were up on the Moltres Cape, over by Steelbay. We were just supposed to get supplies for the base. I wouldn’t have even been there except Rose, my mentor, had me follow along for ‘work experience’,” he laughed bitterly. “There were only five of us; all civilians. Whatever this organization might have done, they were innocent of that.

“Were were on our way home; leaving peacefully with things like flour and medicine. We were literally only a few feet from the safety of a Dungeon when we ran into another party. They saw who we were, what we were, and then they attacked us. The Expedition Society attacked us unprovoked.

“It was a bloodbath. We were outnumbered two to one. I am the only one who survived.” He swore to himself. “The best I could say is that at least most of them had quick, painless deaths. But not Rose. She was the best of us, she had done nothing wrong, but that Ivysaur got the worst of all of it. 

“They were aiming for me. Any one of them probably could’ve killed me in an instant, but it was a game for them. One of them used Magnitude, something that most of us couldn’t have countered, much less survived. I froze as the ground split apart beneath my feet. I couldn’t even bring myself to move even as I lost my footing and I began to fall. Then I felt a searing pain on my leg. A thorn covered vine was wrapped around me, keeping me suspended only inches from oblivion. Up above Rose used a pair of similar vines to defend herself as best she could. I was amazed at her power as she pulled me up while continuing to defend herself.

“I was safe, but there was nothing I could do for her. It was a Phanpy who finally overcame her. He slammed into her, knocking her back as the gaping fissure slowly began to close. I pulled on the vine, trying to save her like she had for me. The thorns bit deep into my flesh, “ he rubbed at his right foreleg unconsciously, “but I refused to let go. I thought I had saved her, but when the ground snapped shut, I heard her scream.

“She didn’t die right away. That would’ve been too merciful. No, I waited with her for hours. I waited with her until Smoke and Quake got there. I waited as Quake ripped the very earth apart and Smoke pulled her free. I watched as the pressure was relieved from her body, and she finally began to bleed. I watched her collapse and die!” Shane brushed his eyes with the back of his paw. “So don’t you dare single us out as the bad guys, Slink. Your side is just as guilty in this conflict.”

I was stunned, but not silenced. “That doesn’t make what you are still doing okay. That doesn’t make you the good guys. What the hell are your ends? How could they possibly justify murder and kidnapping children?”

Yellow met red as we stared each other down. “All we want is a safe place for Shiny Pokémon. You are a threat to that goal.”

“Well congratulations Shane. Your ‘goal’ has killed innocents too. I’m not saying that my side is any better, but don’t hold yourself up and say you couldn’t do it.” I met his eyes, and I know he saw the flames flickering within them. “Because we both know now that I could.” I leapt down from my stool and knocked on the door. “I’m ready to go!” I called to Sparkle. I didn’t look back.

The second I got back to our cell, I collapsed onto the pile of straw in the corner. I was exhausted. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. Unfortunately the whole talk with Shane had given me way too much to think about. I wanted, and needed, to collapse, but that meant I couldn’t think.

I used a technique my father taught me. He had called it his “think tank”. Basically, it created a Psychic pocket somewhere in the mind where my consciousness could retreat to along with any thoughts and memories so that I could continue to try and solve a problem while my body and parts of my mind could rest. 

**One week.** That was the situation that stared me down as I retreated into my head. I had one week before they killed me and used Vix for what they wanted. Actually I had less than a week before they killed me. I wasn’t about to let the Hatred use Vix for anything. Thus I had six days at the most to either get Vix out of here, or convince her to Evolve and leave me to die. 

Personally I preferred the former. Despite how -- questionable -- my illusion world had been, it was accurate specifically in one place. Nurse Candice. “Of course it would also be unhealthy for her to evolve before adolescence…”. Once she had found out about about Vix’s self-destruct plan, Candice had treated me and Eve to a painfully long lecture about how damaging it could be for Vix to evolve too early. Technically there was no guarantee for any physical or psychological damage, but I didn’t want to risk it.

That meant I had roughly five days to come up with a way to get Vix out of the Hatred’s bunker. 

Well, maybe. Another part of my meeting with Shane kept coming to mind. 

_ “You could take a break for a few minutes,” Sparkle said. _

_ Shane immediately shook his head. “No. I have a week left to find where we are supposed to go. I’ve only narrowed it down to three continents.” _

**One week.** This couldn’t be a coincidence could it? Shane had been looking for something somewhere, and he somehow had a deadline of only one week to actually find it. Now he’s saying that he intends to use Vix like a living map, also at a point one week in the future. 

Hold on, there was something else today that was odd. In the illusion world, Moon had asked me about the crystal shard that I had found. Why now, when the Hatred was only a week out from something major, did they want to know about the crystal? Plus, they had asked about it for the first time today. For the past two weeks they had asked me about my father and what he had taught me, or stuff about my life with Vix and Eve. I hadn’t even thought about the crystal for weeks.

I didn’t see any glaring connection between these points, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one. Perhaps I was reaching, but I knew that the crystal probably had something to do with the Dreamstone. Was the Hatred looking for the Dreamstone too?

_ Clang.  _ I was suddenly ripped from my head space as a loud sound woke me up. I looked around blearily for the source. It was much darker now with barely any light filtering in through the window. How long had I been asleep? Vix was frozen, with her shoulders bunched up like she expected a physical blow, in the middle of the cell. On the floor behind her was a large metal tray with two plates of food on them. Well, what used to be two plates of food. Obviously Vix had accidentally dropped the tray and the two plates had spilled, their contents scattered across the floor.

“Sorry,” Vix squeaked once she noticed I was awake. “I was trying to bring dinner over to you but then I accidentally...dropped it.”

I shook my head. “Vix, its fine. I don’t mind eating it after its been on the floor. With that oozing sore over there,” I gestured towards our toilet, “I’m amazed that we haven’t caught all of the diseases already.” Vix laughed softly as I stood and stretched. “Why were you bringing it over to me?”

“Because you have had a rough day, and it’s my fault.” Vix grumbled.

“What?” I asked. “How could it be your fault?”

“The only reason why you have to do any of that is because of me. They put you through an imagined hell every day only because you told them I have a Firestone in my gut.” Vix huffed. “I just know that you wouldn’t be in this situation if I wasn’t here.”

If you weren’t here I would be in a far worse situation and/or dead, I thought. What I said was, “Vix, I chose to do this. It isn’t your fault if I choose it. Besides, if it means keeping you safe, I’d put up with anything.”

Vix looked down and blushed which meant she didn’t see me approach her. She didn’t expect it when I pulled her into a tight hug. 

What neither of us expected was the voice in our heads.  _ Awwww. _

Vix and I flew apart while I threw up every mental defense I could.  _ Slin- _ I briefly heard disjointedly as I forced them out of my head. In the back of my head I sensed something familiar about the presence, but I wasn’t about to stop to figure it out.

_ It...me, Eve…ink! _ I froze, but I kept my walls up. I turned to face Vix who had paled slightly with her mouth gaping open. 

“Slink, was that..? Could it really..?”

Eve. I simultaneously wanted to jump with joy and break down into tears of relief. Even with everything I had been through I had tried to retain my faith that Eve would come. But with everything that had happened today, there was no way that this was actually Eve. It was Sparkle or some other Psychic trying to trick me, right?

My heart sank. Or worse, this whole day had been another of Moon’s illusions. I had to hand it to her. It was brilliant, having me wake up from an illusion that was nested within another illusion. I frantically tried to think of anything that was factually wrong that I had seen today, but the Hatred had (potentially purposefully) taken me to places that I had never been before. 

How was I supposed to figure out whether or not this Eve was real? Well, I guess there was the obvious way. 

It was similar to what I was just doing. The think tank. I created a small pocket in my mind, and blocked the rest off with as much Psychic power as I could muster. I dropped my outer walls letting “Eve” in. 

As soon as I felt them slip in, I told them what I was about to do.  _ You say that you are Eve. If you actually are then I would like to apologize, but Eve would understand. If you aren’t then I am warning you now. Get out of my head, or Vix will evolve.  _

_ Slink… I understand.  _ The voice replied.  _ I can’t imagine what you’ve been through the last two weeks. Please, I encourage you to be careful. _

Maybe I was being paranoid, but this encouragement only made me more suspicious.  _ I’m gonna ask you a few questions just to make certain that you are who you say you are.  _ Okay, now all I had to do was actually come up with a question. The obvious question would be “where is Vix’s Firestone”, but if this wasn’t Eve just asking the question would tell the Hatred that it wasn’t in her stomach.

_ You carry something in your bag that you said was the last thing “he” gave you. What is it? _

I tried to pick my words carefully so that there was only a small possibility that anyone but Eve would be able to guess what I meant. Shane undoubtedly would know about the Darkstone, but I didn’t think that he would tell anyone else in the Hatred about it. Plus, even if Shane did tell anybody about the Darkstone he probably wouldn’t know or even guess that she still carried it.

_ The Darkstone that Shane gave me when we became partners.  _ I didn’t let myself relax. 

_ What did Vix do everyday before we found her?  _ There was probably some chance that the Hatred would know this one, but she only started doing it after the Hatred killed her mother and if they had found her after that, they would have captured her much sooner. 

_ She went to the mouth of her den and watched the sunset.  _ My heart was pounding in my chest. This had to be Eve right.

I needed certainty, so I asked about the most intimate moment we had shared. Nobody except the two of us would know about it.  _ The night we told each other everything, what was the last thing I said to you before we fell asleep? _

When the answer came, I felt the hint of a smile and a laugh along with it.  _ You said that once we found the Dreamstone, your family was going to love me! _

_ Eve!  _ I’m not sure what I looked like as the tsunami of relief rushed over me. I know I laughed and I also know that I burst into tears. I tore down every layer of Psychic protecting me. She connected to my mind, and I shuddered with pure joy as I felt her presence for the first time in what felt like years. A rush of memories and emotions threatened to overwhelm me as my own shot towards her. 

“Eve,” Vix giggled, “you found us! You found us!” As much as I also wanted to celebrate, I quickly hushed Vix. There was certainly somebody guarding our door. If Eve was here to do what I thought she was here to do, it was important that she retain the element of surprise. 

_ It is so good to see you guys.  _ Eve said. I felt relief mixed with sadness flow from her.  _ I was so...so...so worried about you. I was afraid that I wasn’t going to make it in time. I thought I was never going to see you again. _

_ Shh,  _ I thought, even now trying to be the strong one,  _ you found us. That is all that matters.  _

Eve laughed.  _ I’m sorry it took us two weeks, but we found you! _

_ We?  _ I asked. Obviously she wouldn’t have come alone, but I needed to know how many people she had. It had to be more than just her and Sierra or we wouldn’t stand a chance.

_ Well, there’s me, uh, Sierra, and Kegan. Dimitri came along too. Let’s see, we also found Buzz and Leo again. Actually Leo is the only reason why we found you guys. I would never have guessed that the Hatred base was in the center of the Crimson Peak. _

Me neither. That’s where we were? 

_ I think that’s everyone I know personally, but Kegan recruited as many Expedition Society members he could get ahold of. When we told them we are going to attack the Hatred not many of them said no. All in all, I think there are around thirty of us.  _ Eve shrugged.  _ More or less. _

_ Where even are you guys? _

_ We are in the Volcano, but we set up camp outside of the Dungeon. Did you know that there is a Dungeon? _

_ Oh, is that why Vix can see the layout of the whole base?  _ I thought sarcastically.

_ Oops, I forgot Vix was with you. Anyway we set up outside the Dungeon so we wouldn’t be thrown out when it started to shift. But the Dungeon doesn’t shift. Even Kegan doesn’t quite understand, but this certainly isn’t a normal Mystery Dungeon. _

_ Alright. What is the plan? For getting us out?  _ Eve didn’t answer right away.  _ There is a plan right? _

_ The beginnings of one. _ Eve admitted.  _ We have an outline, but we don’t exactly have any specifics since there is a lot we don’t know. For example, Leo was never allowed into the prison, so we don’t know where you guys are. Also we aren’t quite sure about the best place to enter. _

_ You will have to talk to Vix about where exactly we are, but in the center of the base there is a courtyard with a skylight. You could drop in there, and our cell is right next to it. It is the perfect entry point.  _

Eve lit up over the connection. I couldn’t help but smile. Her excitement was contagious.  _ Slink, this is perfect! And since we won’t have to make a show we might be able to at least get to your cell without raising an alarm. _

_ If you have a Fighting type with you, you will be able to get us out. Crash, Stanley, Quake, and Smoke are the only ones who guard us.  _ We were both silent for a moment. Sure, that was a lot we had pinned down, but there was still a ton that could go wrong. 

It was in that moment that I was able to look past the current situation. I remembered the fight Eve and I had had before we were captured. I remembered what I had said.  _ Eve, I want to apologize.  _

_ What? _

_ I said some stupid stuff before we were… when I last saw you. Since I’ve been in here, I’ve seen…  _ the image of illusion Vix laying broken in the hospital bed revealed itself. Like I said, that image would be burned into my head for a while.  _...enough to know that you were right. I was selfish Eve, and I’m sorry. _

_ Are you kidding me?  _ Eve sent. Exasperation would be an understatement to describe the emotion I was receiving from her.  _ I don’t care about that. I honestly shouldn’t have cared then. Our team’s reputation isn’t exactly important in the grand scheme of things, it turns out.  _

Neither of us could help it. We both started laughing. It was a huge release of stress we had both been holding on to for the last two weeks. Neither of us said anything for a while. Both of us were simply reveling in being together again; in mind, if not in body. 

Finally Eve spoke.  _ I...I should leave. The longer I’m talking to you, the higher the chance that someone senses me, and then our cover is blown.  _

All I wanted to do was scream “don’t leave me” like a child, but I knew I couldn’t.  _ I love you,  _ was all I managed to get out.

_ I love you too. Now you and Vix should get some sleep. You’ve got one hell of a day tomorrow. Goodbye, Slink. _

I shook my head.  _ That feels a bit… ominous. How about, see you later? _

Eve smiled, and I felt its warmth.  _ See you tomorrow Slink.  _ With that, her voice and her presence faded. It was like going from a warm summer day straight to midnight in the coldest winter. I couldn’t help but shiver.

This change didn’t kill the mood however. Vix was still excitedly, albeit silently, dancing around the cell. I couldn’t help but join in. For the first time that day, the illusion world that Moon had created slipped from my mind. Vix was alive, whole, and with me. Eve was out there, and she was coming to get us. How could anything be wrong?

At this point in my life, I should have known better than to ask that question.

Before I could close my mind off and protect it once again I saw a flicker, a peek of someone’s mind. Just as soon as it appeared, it vanished. I knew it was stupid. I knew it was risky. At the same time though, I felt the need to chase it. 

I locked onto the presence, where it had been, and I sent words.  _ Hello? Who are you? _


	14. Fennekin

Good news: the presence wasn’t a threat.

Bad news: talking to it led to disaster.

_ Hello? Who are you?  _ I called out to the voice. Of course I was cautious. I had no idea who was on the other end. At the same time though I had a gut feeling about this that I didn’t quite understand. 

I could still feel the presence, but no answer came. I waited another minute before calling out again.  _ Hello? Please, talk to me. _

_ No!  _ Came the answer along with a wave of absolute fear.  _ Lea...me...lone! Don...go...my...ead.  _ The connection felt very spotty, as the voice went in and out, but it was mostly understandable at the very least.

_ I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Slink and I’m a prisoner of the Hatred. _

Slowly, tentatively the other Pokemon pressed words into my head.  _ I ….vn’t...heard...felt you… fore. Tonigh...did. T...Hatre… pris-on-er-ed... me... oo. _

_ Okay. What’s your name?  _ I encouraged trying to keep the voice with me.

**_Ash-_ ** _ ley _ , she said with a huge emphasis on the first half. 

_ Alright Ashley, nice to meet you.  _ I said trying to be as friendly as possible. A niggling feeling I had had in the back of my head since she’d started talking pushed forward. There was something about the words she used. Prisonered? A pit grew in my stomach as I asked Ashley another question.  _ Ashley, how old are you? _

_...five,  _ she said. 

I thought for a moment I was going to be sick. Actually no, I wanted to go back to Shane’s office and smack him. I couldn’t understand how in the holy hell he could say that the Hatred was in the right when they had kidnapped an actual child. At the same time though, the why of the situation still eluded me. Why did they kidnap a child, and why this child?

_ Ashley what are you? What species are you? _

I could feel her struggle as she tried to answer.  _ A….fee...funi...feni...uh… _

My stomach dropped into my feet.  _ A Fennekin?  _ I suggested softly hoping I was wrong.

_ Yeah...Fen..kin…  _ came her garbled response. Another Fennekin. At least it explained her disjointed speech. I could hardly imagine how scared she must be. She was working on the same bipolar rules as me. The amount of control she had to have in order to have even this level of a psychic conversation with me was impressive, especially at her age. 

I was jarred from my thoughts as Vix danced into me, nearly knocking me over. While I had talked to Ashley she had continued to joyously, albeit silently, prance around the cell in celebration. I didn’t blame her. In her head we were saved. Eve would come and get us the next morning and then we would be home. She had no idea about the little girl locked somewhere in this prison. 

“Come on Slink,” Vix said as she bumped me again, “let your guard down here, just a minute. You’ve been staring at that wall since Eve left. Stop thinking, and just enjoy the moment!” Her grin faded and her tails drooped as she noticed my expression. “Slink, what’s wrong?”

I shook my head. “Nothing wrong exactly, but there is another wrinkle in our plan for tomorrow. Apparently another prisoner heard our conversation with Eve…”

Vix’s hackles raised as she growled. “Are they threatening to tell the Hatred if we don’t take them with us?!”

“No, no. I just… I can’t leave them. At the very least we need to get her out when Eve comes.” I sighed.

“Aren’t you afraid that the Hatred overheard us? Or that this prisoner is a Hatred member pretending?” Vix said, sounding more than a little panicked. 

“No, she’s a five-year-old girl who can barely control her powers. Besides, she was the only mind I saw when my wards were down.” 

Vix and I stared each other down for a moment before she nodded. “Alright. I just wanted to know you were sure. What’s the plan?”

I hesitated. “I don’t have one. I mean all we have to do is just get her before we leave tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Vix said sarcastically, “we just let Eve know tomorrow morning what cell she is in. Easy.” I flinched and grimaced as she said it. “Slink, don’t you think it would be helpful to know where this girl is if you are so determined to rescue her?”

I opened my mind again, trying to find Ashley. When I found her I was met with panicked words and even more static than before. _ ...ink….where….go...quiet….me...alone… _

_ Ashley, I’m back. I’m sorry.  _

_ Sl...go...whe...j...h…  _ and then her voice simply faded away. I could still feel her mind, but just barely, and no more words were coming to me.

_ Ashley? Ashley? I can’t hear you.  _ I paused, but still nothing.  _ Ashley you are too deep into Fire for me to hear you. You need to calm down or we can’t talk.  _ Nothing.

I racked my brain, trying to think of how I could calm the girl down enough to talk to her. What had my parents done to help me through this when I was a kid? Well I had nothing to lose. I reached out and surrounded her mind with mine, applying a gentle pressure. I paused a moment to gauge her reaction before I continued. 

I remembered a song my mother would sing to me when I was upset. I hadn’t thought about it in years, but I found myself repeating it through the connection. 

  
  


_ From Lapras bay sailed a team _

_ For treasure they did seek _

_ Others laughed to see them go _

_ For they were small and weak _

_ Ember was the leader bold _

_ Daq was smart and skilled _

_ Mel was of strongest heart _

_ Completely iron willed _

_ They climbed aboard the Lapras shell _

_ And waved a soft goodbye _

_ To the ocean they all sailed _

_ As open as the sky _

_ It took the team three stormy nights _

_ And two long summer days _

_ Before on the horizon dawned _

_ A new land found their gaze _

_ The earth was green and gorgeous there _

_ Except one Crimson Peak _

_ “There is Fire in the land” they cried, _

_ “Of our journey they’ll surely speak” _

_ Triumphant they returned  _

_ To their distant home _

_ After this new land they had _

_ Made sure to span and roam _

_ And so explorers traveled _

_ To the distant land _

_ A town, a base, a new home _

_ Were all quickly planned _

_ To name the new expanse _

_ From field to mountain spire _

_ To honor the three founders _

_ They simply called it Fire _

_ That’s…pretty song.  _ I received through the connection. There was still a note of distress in the voice, but Ashley was at least calm enough to send almost complete sentences.  _ My dad used to sing...me. I miss… _

_ It’s okay Ashley,  _ I said reassuringly,  _ we are going to get you home, okay. I don’t know if you heard, but my friend is coming to rescue me and my friend tomorrow. Do you know where you are? _

_ Where? Umm...cell. It’s...dark. _

_ Ashley, I know you are in a cell. Where is that cell? Do you know?  _

_ No...know. I don’t... dark....metal...scary!  _ I cursed to myself. Her voice was getting spottier again. I couldn’t lose her. 

_ Okay Ashley, calm down. Shhh. How about this question. Do you have a toy at home that you hug when you get scared?  _ While I talked I spread out my senses, trying to figure out where she was. 

I felt a small surge of warmth and comfort flowing back through the connection as she thought.  _ I...blankie. It is red and fuzzy. Mommy made...me.  _ It was working. A full sentence. 

_ Your mom made it? Cool,  _ I told her as I zeroed in on her Psychic energy. I froze. Unless my senses were completely off (it had been a long day, and I hadn’t used Psychic in a while) Ashley was in the cell right next door to us.

I glanced at Vix with wide eyes and pointed at the wall in front of us with my tail. She cocked her head at me. “She’s next to us? Well that makes things easier. At least she isn’t on the other end of the base.”

“Thank Arceus,” I muttered to myself. I think at this point I deserved at least one lucky break.  _ Okay Ashley, I know where you are. We are neighbors. Isn’t that funny? Tomorrow morning we are going to come and get you and then we will take you home. _

Of all the possible responses I could have gotten, I wasn’t expecting the one she gave.  _ Nooooo!  _ I could feel the panic rising in her.  _ I can’t leave. No. The scary guy with the tongue will....make my head hurt!  _ She was losing control of her Psychic again.  _...go ...away ...know ….nothing …Dreamst....shared…. _

My heart suddenly jumped into my throat. Had she just said what I thought she said?  _ Ashley, Ashley? Can you hear me? Did you just say the Dreamstone? What do you know about the Dreamstone? _

Silence. I could feel a mess of emotions, and a slowly rising heat, but that was all I got from the connection. Damn it. What did she say about the Dreamstone? Did she know something, or did the Hatred tell her about it? I rushed over to the wall, rubbing my forepaws along it, trying to think of a way I could get to the other side. 

“Slink,” Vix hissed, “what are you doing? I thought we were going to get her tomorrow?”

“I can’t wait ‘til tomorrow,” I said, feeling my own heat rising. “She said she knows something about the Dreamstone!”

Vix raised her forepaws in surrender. “Okay, calm down. How are we going to get to her then? Not sure if you noticed, but we are kinda in a prison, and the Hatred doesn’t seem like the type to allow for prisoner meet and greets. We may not be able to get to her until Eve gets here.”

I forced myself to calm down. Vix was right. At the same time though I was still racking my brain trying to think of anything I could possibly do. Was there some way I could get past the guard in the hall. Probably, but doing it would almost certainly jeopardize the mission tomorrow. And it’s not like we had any way of getting through the wall, right?

Then it hit me. A small image in the back of my head of what I had read so long ago. ... _ use this ability to manipulate a Mystery Dungeon...  _

I turned instantly, starling Vix who had been settling down in the straw. “Vix this place is a Dungeon!”

“Yeah,” Vix said slowly, “are you just now realizing this?” 

“Vix, your ability. You can manipulate Dungeons. I read about it when I discovered your powers.” I turned studying the wall that separated us from Ashley. “I bet you could create a hole or something in that wall!”

The Vulpix just stood there, a stunned expression on her face. Her mouth hung open. It looked like she wanted to say something but couldn’t think of what to say. Finally she hung her head and sighed. “I can’t.” She mumbled.

“Vix, I know you can. Remember that day we first ran into the Hatred? You made a hiding spot appear out of nowhere.” 

“I didn’t say that I was unable to do it! I said I can’t. I don’t know how!” Vix snapped, smoke blowing from her nostrils. “If I could spontaneously make holes appear in the walls don’t you think I would do it?”

“Vix, I get it. But you have to try. There is a scared little girl on the other side of the wall. You are our only chance of getting to her.” She turned away from me, refusing to meet my gaze. “Look, the last time you were afraid. It was instinctual. Imagine what you could do -- how many people you could help -- if you had control over this ability?”

She scowled at me and huffed. “I’ll try. That is all I can promise.” Vix sat close to the wall, staring intently at it. I knew for a fact that her heart wasn’t in it, but I didn’t dare break what little concentration she had. In a way, it was almost comical the way she stared unblinkingly at the wall. It was almost as if she was waiting for it to perform a trick.

Finally after three minutes I had to stop her. “This isn’t working. The only way that we are getting through at this rate is if it melts under your glare.”

“I told you I can’t do this,” Vix groaned.

“Its okay. We just have to try this another way. Here, try closing your eyes?”

“Slink,” Vix whined.

“Just humor me for a second.” She huffed and rolled her eyes before closing them tight. “You can see the Dungeon map in your head right?”

“Yeah,” she admitted. 

“And you can see the cell we are in, and the wall separating us from Ashley.”

“Of course I can. Is there a point to this, or…”

“Here’s what I want you to do. Focus on that wall in your mental map, see it in your mind’s eye. Now redraw the map. Instead of a solid wall there is a space, a hole in it. Take out an eraser and remove that wall.” I slowly backed away from Vix as she focused. This had to work.

Vix growled low in her throat, the sound barely audible. The noise sent shivers up my spine, which continued as the world seemed to vibrate around me. I stared at the wall in anticipation, but nothing was happening. Nothing was changing. Suddenly Vix gave a strangled gasp, and she collapsed onto her side.

“Vix!” I cried perhaps a bit too loudly. “Vix, are you okay?” 

“I-I-I think so. Tell me something happened because I feel like I was just hit by a Rhyhorn.” I glanced back at the wall and was shocked. A small section of bricks just at eye level were missing, as if they had never been there at all. 

“It worked. Vix you are amazing. It worked!” She shakily got to her feet as she admired her handywork. “Are you sure you are okay? You don’t look so good.”

“Yeah, I’m fine I just think I’m gonna…” Vix didn’t even make it to the straw before she passed out. I barely reacted in time to catch her before she hit the floor. Once I had a hold of her I managed to carry her over to the straw. I settled her down in the straw and licked her forehead gently before I turned to investigate the hole.

“Ashley?” I whispered through the new gap.

A soft whimper came from the room on the other side. “Leave me alone,” came a high-pitched voice, “Don’t make my head hurt. Just let me sleep.”

“Ashley, it’s okay. It’s me, Slink.” 

“Slink?” I heard a rustle. Fur against straw, bare pawpads against stone. “You don’t sound in my head. Where are you?”

In response, I sent out a quick burst of flame through the hole, illuminating the room on the other side in a quick flash. “Over here.”

I heard her soft footfalls as her claws scraped along the ground. “Can you reach the hole?” I asked as she paused.

“Ummm,” she definitely seemed unsure.

“Can you put your paws on the ledge? I’ll give you a boost up.” I could just see two tiny paws reach up, curling so claws could grip into the concrete and provide leverage. “One, two, three,” I mumbled. On three she gave a small hop and I reached out with my mind and lifted her up to the hole. 

She stood there for a moment. I wasn’t sure if she was suddenly afraid of actually being in the room with me, or if she was just thinking. I could see her eyes reflecting what little light was in the room as they darted about. She was so small that she could stand fully upright in the small hole we had opened up.

Finally she inched forward and leapt down from the ledge into the room. She looked scared, her ears tucked back, her body hunched, and her tail between her legs. But her posture isn’t what grabbed my attention. Ashley,  **Ash.** I guess her parents had a dark sense of humor because Ashley was shiny. 

Perhaps I was wrong about why the Hatred had taken her. Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with the Dreamstone. Then again, why was she in the prison? If she was kidnapped to be a Hatred member, wouldn’t she be anywhere else?

It took me a moment to realize that Ashley was studying me too. She kept looking back and forth between my yellow fur, and her bright gray coat. Then we met eyes, my deep red ones into her more crimson ones. “You’re like me,” she said softly. She cocked her head curiously. “But you’re the wrong color.”

That was definitely a first, but I tried to be reassuring. “Yeah, I’m a Fennekin too.” I smiled, “Aren’t your parents the same color as me?”

Ashley nodded. “Yeah, my mommy is. My daddy isn’t though.”

I decided not to focus on this. Just because both of my parents had been Delphoxes didn’t mean that her’s would be too. I moved on to a more pressing issue. “Are you okay?” I asked looking her over. I didn’t know anything about when she was taken, or how the Hatred had been treating her since. “Did they do anything to you?”

Ashley shook her head. “No. They only talk. Except the creepy guy. He makes my head hurt.” I nodded. From what I could see, she didn’t seem to have any physical injuries.

I sat back. Half a problem solved for now. There was still one thing I needed to discuss with the child. “Ashley, you said something earlier about the Dreamstone and something being shared. What did you mean?”

She stared at me for a moment looking really confused, then she gasped. “They kept asking me if I knew anything about Dreamstone but I don’t know Dreamstone and they kept asking and making my head hurt and I didn’t like it then they asked me about a shared, and I don’t want to share anything!”

“Whoa, whoa,” I said raising a paw. “Slow down. You said that they asked about a shared?” The girl nodded frantically. “Are you sure they said shared?”

“Yeah,” she affirmed vehemently.

Shared, what was shared? The Dreamstone? Some knowledge? It didn’t make sense no matter how you thought about it. Of course I couldn’t know for certain if the “shared” had anything to do with the Dreamstone, there had been a significant pause between the two words after all. Still, I had a gut feeling that they had at least something to do with each other. 

The thing that bothered me more was the incorrect grammar. Why the past tense? Ashley was young. Perhaps she is simply using the wrong word, or at least heard it wrong. I doubted the Hatred was going to share anything about the Dreamstone, even among themselves. But what sounded like “shared”? 

Shared...shared...sha-ared…

“Ashley,” I said suddenly, “are you certain they didn’t say shard?”

“That’s what I said!” Ashley said stubbornly. “Sha-red.”

“Ashley what did they say about a shard? The guy with the big red tongue. What did he say?”

Ashley stuck her own tongue out at the question. “He is gross. I don’t like him.”

I groaned internally. I didn’t want to alienate her, but at the same time I needed to know. “And the shard?”

“They asked if I had seen a shared. They also asked if I had seen a key-stall. I don’t have a key-stall, but my mommy does.”

Key-stall? “Crystal?” I prompted. “Did you tell the scary guy about the crystal your mom had?” I surprised myself at how soft my words were because my heart was in my throat and I thought I was going to explode any second.

“Yeah,” Ashley said sheepishly. “He made my head hurt so I told him about the key-stall. He didn’t come ask me again. Good. He’s scary.”

Crystal shard. And the fact that Smoke hadn’t talked to Ashley again could only mean that they had gotten what they wanted. I knew with absolute certainty that the Hatred now possessed the crystal shard that Ashley’s mom had. I also knew that if it was the same type of crystal as we had gotten from Leo, it was vital to finding the Dreamstone. I needed that crystal. But this also revealed something else to me. I was now all but certain that Shane and Smoke, and by extension the Hatred, were looking for the Dreamstone too.

“That her?” A new voice nearly made me jump out of my skin. I shouldn’t have been worried though. It was only Vix. She regarded Ashley with an eyebrow raised. “She’s shiny. Can’t say I didn’t expect that at this point.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I was, but you two kept blabbering.” Vix looked me up and down. “Slink, I know you have a million things running through your mind, but you look awful. Really, really terrible.”

“Thanks Vix, there is no sugarcoating here I see.” I grumbled, but I also knew that she was right. Even with Ashley’s new information, there was nothing else we could do tonight. We would need the Society and Eve if we were going to act on any of that.

But in the meantime... “Right,” I mumbled, “we should all be headed to bed. We need to be ready for tomorrow.” I followed Vix as she went back and curled up in the straw. I was about to join her, when I realized that Ashley was still sitting by the hole in the wall. 

“Ashley, er can I call you Ash?”

She blushed hunching her shoulders. “That’s what my mommy and daddy call me.”

“Alright then Ash,” I said softly, “come over here. You don’t have to be alone anymore. Besides three Fire Types are definitely warmer than just one.” The girl smiled, but she still tentatively stepped towards us, as if she expected us to lash out at her with every step. I huffed through my nose. How could the Hatred reduce a friendly girl to this nervous wreck? One problem at a time, I reminded myself. Vix was already curled against my stomach, so Ashley curled up next to my head. She was so small that her whole curled-up body fit under one of my ears. She snuggled under it like a blanket, and giggled as the tuft of hair within tickled her.

Before long we were all asleep.

* * *

_ Be ready.  _

I jolted awake to find light streaming in from the high window. As my mind caught up, and I realized what was about to happen, I felt my Fire springing to life. It was almost time. In another two hours we would either be free, or I would be dead and all of my loved ones would be imprisoned. I tried to be optimistic. 

“Oh, you are up. Finally.” I looked around for Vix, before a shadow passed over me. She was lying down on the window-ledge regarding me with an impish grin. “I wasn’t sure that you were getting up until Eve got here.” Vix winked at me before turning back to stare out the window.

I carefully lifted myself up to the window, careful not to wake Ashley who was still snoring softly in the straw. Vix shifted aside so I could hold on to the ledge with my forepaws and peer out into the courtyard beyond.

“Are they here yet?” I asked as I squinted against the bright morning light. As my eyes adjusted I saw that the courtyard was still empty.

“Not yet,” Vix answered, “but I think they are almost ready. They are definitely doing something up there.”

I was about to ask what she meant, when suddenly the sunlight filling the courtyard faded slightly, as if a cloud had crossed the sun outside. It only took me a second to realize that it wasn’t a cloud. Someone was blocking the light. It happened again and again as Pokemon walked back and forth past the skylight.

“They are getting into position,” I muttered. Vix nodded. Her head pivoted left and right, constantly scanning the room to make sure that the coast was clear. “Are you ready?” I asked.

Vix flinched. Her tails twitched, the bracelet with the Firestone clacking against the wall. “I kinda have to be. Don’t worry, I’ve had a  _ little _ practice navigating. I’ll just need your help relaying my directions to Eve.”

I was about to reassure her when I felt a subtle pressure against my mental wards. It was Eve asking to be let in.  _ Are you ready?  _ She sent as soon as I opened my mind.  _ Is the coast clear? Can we come down? _

The courtyard was still deserted, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I sent a weak Psychic pulse in every direction. It would show me any mind in range, unless of course they were Dark type. The pulse was also weak enough that it wouldn’t alert any Psychic types unless they were specifically expecting it.

_ Nobody. You are good to go.  _ Apparently that was all Eve needed. Less than thirty seconds after I sent the message, the sunlight vanished. I saw a pair of hind-legs and a long prehensile tail drop into view before their owner fell down, slowing her descent with her Psychic. Vix and I were both enraptured as Eve slowly turned to face us.

She clearly didn’t see us in the window as she immediately turned her face up to the light and nodded. I watched her for a moment, simply reveling in the sight of her. I shook my head. I had to stay focused. I sent out constant Psychic pulses, like sonar, to make sure that nobody was headed our way. 

There was a sharp pop, and a flash of pink light. Suddenly Kegan was standing beside Eve. Kegan nodded to the Espeon before he turned to the skylight and beaconed. The light was almost extinguished as somebody slowly lowered themselves into the opening. They dropped, falling for a few moments before Kegan caught them and slowly lowered them to the ground. As soon as the floating Pokemon touched the ground, another slid into place up above and dropped. 

Meanwhile, Eve sat against the wall, tapping her feet, her tail swishing behind her. Eventually a huge Pangoro joined her, leaning against the wall next to her with his arms crossed. Unlike Eve he didn’t move a muscle. The only movement I could see from him was the slight shift as the bamboo sprout he held between his teeth flicked back and forth. I felt pretty confident in guessing that he was there to help with whoever was guarding our door.

Thankfully there were a few familiar faces in the crowd. Leo sat in the growing crowd of Society Members looking absolutely uncomfortable and terrified. I bet he never expected to be back here again, much less in order to attack it. A Luxio sat next to the big guy, looking around excitedly. Wait, was that Buzz? Sierra had to be carried down by a  Staravia who simply swooped in through the hole in the ceiling. Once he was on the floor he walked over to a small group of Dark Types who were waiting by Kegan. Dimitri, on the other hand, simply dropped through the hole without a Psychic cushion. There was a soft crunch as he hit the floor, but the big tree seemed unaffected.

Eve visibly became antsy as time went by. As the group of Society members grew she went from fidgeting, to pacing, to actively running back and forth from her post to where Kegan was still working to lower teams into the Hatred base. Every time Kegan would shake his head firmly, and otherwise ignore the Espeon.

Finally Kegan set the thirtieth and final Society member to the ground. As he released his mental grip on the Milotic, the Kedabra wiped his brow with the back of his arm. He pulled an Expedition Gadget from the grey bag hanging at his side, checking the screen for, I assume, the time. The other Expedition Teams split into small parties, each moving to cover one of the courtyard entrances. 

Eve was suddenly back in my head.  _ We are about to go on Kegan’s signal. We have another group outside set to strike at 8 o’clock. They'll distract the Hatred long enough for us to get into positions. My job is to come get you, but I’m going to need you and Vix to guide us. We will only have a few minutes before the whole base is alerted to our presence, and you know that getting to you will be Smoke and Shane’s first priority once that happens.  _

I glanced at Vix who was sitting on the ledge with her eyes closed and a look of deep concentration etched onto her face.  “Southern entrance.” Vix mumbled. “Then you need to make the first left possible.” I relayed this information to Eve as quickly as possible. She lead the Pangoro to the southernmost doorway. 

In the center of the room Kegan stood with the sunlight beaming down on him like a spotlight. He held his hand in the air by his head as he stared at his Gadget. I saw his lips move as he mumbled to himself, counting down the seconds. Then the device in his hand began to beep. The canned, electric sound echoing hollowly in the silent stone room. “Go, go, go,” Kegan called over the sound of the alarm, his hand dropped until he was pointing directly ahead. A cheer rang from the assembled Society members before they scattered into their respective tunnels. 

“Third right, then another left.” Vix mumbled, almost in a trance-like state as she concentrated on the Dungeon’s layout. I relayed the directions to Eve as quickly as Vix provided them. We probably could have given them faster because Eve was running. She was running recklessly, desperately fast. The few unsuspecting Hatred members that she met were simply blasted out of the way by her or the Pangoro. Thankfully both made certain to render those they came across unconscious. It was vital to keep the element of surprise. “Right, second right, left,” Vix said and perhaps it was the connection, but my heart began to pound with anticipation. I could almost feel the distance between me and Eve shrinking. 

“She’s in our hallway,” Vix suddenly said, her eyes snapping open. “We are the fifth door on the left. Although to be fair, ours is probably the only door being guarded.” She leapt off the ledge and sat before the door expectantly. I sent these final instructions to Eve before joining Vix.

I was about to ask Vix whether there was any way we could help with the guard when a muffled shout of alarm pierced the air. We heard a few grunts, a couple of dull  _ thunks  _ as something impacted the stone wall, and then a sharp, metallic  _ clang _ combined with a yelp of pain. The latch was drawn from the door, followed by the tell-tale creak of the hinges as it slowly swung open. That sound had always been a bad thing in the past, but as the door swung open I was met with Eve’s bright smile. 

We met eyes, and for a moment we were both frozen. Before I could even blink she was moving. She awkwardly leapt over the fallen form of Quake, and suddenly we were together again. She had her forepaws wrapped around my shoulders, and her face was buried in my neck, nuzzling at every square inch she could reach. I purred deep in my throat as I rubbed up against her. Inside, both of our minds were embracing as well, both glowing with excitement and joy at simply being near each other again. For a moment I looked up to the ceiling as Eve tucked her head under my chin. Her gem was pressed right up against my throat, and I could feel a roborant warmth radiating from it. It was a hole being filled, an ache being soothed. Finally after two weeks, all of the suffering had ended.

Just as soon as we had embraced though, it was over. She pulled away from me and was suddenly all business. “Lee, keep watch.” The Pangoro had to stoop slightly to peer through the door. As he received Eve’s order, he nodded and grunted before turning so his back was to us.

“Who’s your friend?” I asked sarcastically.

“Oh, Lee? He’s a member of Team Talonguard. Kegan asked him to stick with me so we could get you out.” She grinned at me, and then grunted as Vix nearly tackled her. The young fox clung to Eve and purred so loudly that even Lee glanced back. The two became a tangle of rust-brown and purple fur through which I could just hear Eve’s next words. “He’s really just a big Teddiursa when you get to know him.” Lee turned his head. The gleam in his black eyes told me that if I ever called him a Teddiursa he would crush me.

Eve eventually detached herself from Vix. She slowly walked around me, just like I had with Ash last night, searching me for any injury. “Are you two okay? Seriously Slink, don’t brush this off. Did they hurt you? Vix?”

“Whoa, whoa,” I raised my paw to stem the flow of questions. “Eve, we are both fine. They didn’t hurt us…even as much as they wanted to.”

Eve nodded warily. “Alright. Although no matter what your answer was, Candice is planning on giving you both a thorough checkup as soon as we get back.” I rolled my eyes. “I brought you both new badges.” She rooted through her bag for a moment before pulling out two silver discs. Instead of the blue-white light I was used to, the badges shone with a lime-green light. “Expedition Badges 2.0. Leo and Kegan made them,” Eve said by way of an explanation, “they put tiny shards of Ground Gems and Dusk Stones in them. That way Sparkle can’t overload them anymore, and a Psychic can’t rip them away from you.” I nodded appreciatively before pinning the badge to my chest. The familiar weight was another source of comfort for me. “Candice and Abby are waiting for you on the other end. You both need to get out. I’ll be right behind you.” Vix and I met eyes. “Eve I can’t leave yet. The Hatred has something that I need.”

“Okay,” Eve said, “I’m sure you’re right. But it is far too dangerous here for us to stay. You and Vix might as well have targets painted on your backs as soon as the Hatred finds out that we are here!” As if to punctuate her point, a blaring siren began to wail throughout the base. The element of surprise was gone. The Hatred knew we were here. “Come on guys, we need to go!”

“Wuzzgoingon?!” Ashley was finally awake. The tiny Fennekin stood slowly, straw falling from where it had been tangled in her thick fur. Her ears were clamped down on the sides of her head trying to drown out the noise. She took a few steps before she froze. Her eyes were wide as she stared, frozen, at Eve. Ashley yelped in fear before diving back into the straw.

I glanced back at Eve, “I agree though, we need to get  _ her _ out before the Hatred gets here. I don’t want her getting caught in the crossfire.”

“Where did she even come from? You didn’t mention a shiny roommate last night!” Eve scolded. She didn’t seem mad, more frustrated that she couldn’t plan around Ashley’s presence.

“We were neighbors. She overheard us talking last night, and one thing led to another…” I glanced over at the now conspicuous hole in the wall. “A lot happened last night really.”

“I noticed,” Eve said dryly. “She’s shiny. Why is she even here?” 

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I shrugged. “Ashley, hey Ash, its okay.” I stepped closer to her, smiling encouragingly. “Remember when I said a friend was coming to get us out? This is my partner Eve.” I glanced back at the Espeon. She gave a half smile and waved at Ashley.” Like a Turtwig emerging from its shell, Ashley poked her head out of the straw.

I carefully pulled my badge off my chest, moving slowly so I wouldn’t scare her. “Ashley do you trust me?” Instead of words, Ashley gave a pained whine. I could feel confusion, fear, and simply exhaustion emanating from her. Despite this, she gave a tiny nod. I held out my badge for her to inspect. “Okay, Ash, I’m gonna tap you with this. You’ll see a really bright light, and then you will be in a different place. Ash, do you know what an Absol looks like?” 

Ashley looked like she was about to faint. She shook her head. “That’s fine. So you need to talk to my friend Abby. She has four legs and bright red fur, okay? Tell her that Slink sent you, and that you need a checkup. Alright?”

A look of absolute panic crossed her face. “But what about you?”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. I gotta do something here first.”

I had hoped that Ash would be fine, but the child had been through at least two weeks of hell. All of that stress finally reached its breaking point. “I wanna go home!” She cried. “I want my mommy! I want my dad!” 

There was nothing I could do in the moment, but I also didn’t want to send her away when she was crying. “Shhh,” I cooed as I moved closer to her. “Shhh, Ash. It's okay.” I sat at her side and placed a paw on her back, right between her shoulder blades. I rubbed in small circles. “Ash, shhh, I can’t do anything right now, but I promise that I will get you back home.” She turned and buried her snout in my side, shuddering in fear.

I held her as she calmed herself down. Ash hiccuped a couple of times as her sobs slowly subsided. She hung her head as she took a shuddering breath. “Are you ready to go?” Ash didn’t speak, but she nodded.

I held the badge over her head. “Alright Ash. See you in a bit, okay?” The silver surface barely kissed the top of her head before the green glow within the badge exploded outwards, enveloping her. Then she was gone.

I stood there for only a second, staring at the spot Ashey had been. Then I turned, reattaching my badge as I went. “Okay, we need to hurry.”

Eve shook her head. “Slink, how important can it be? Please, we have to go!”

“It’s a crystal shard. It’s just like the one we got from Leo. I’m certain they are related to the Dreamstone!” Eve bit her lip, thinking hard.

“Fine, you get out. I’ll go get it and meet you back home.” Before Eve could finish, I was shaking my head.

“There is no way you’ll find it in time. I’ve seen the most of this base out of the three of us, and I don’t even know where the shard is.” 

“Okay, well then how do you plan to find it?” 

She had me there. I had no plan on how to find it. Thankfully though, Vix had my back. “I’d put it in the vault,” she said simply.

" The what?” Eve said.

“The vault,” Vix repeated with a shrug. “Trust me I’ve spent two weeks in here, and I have a pretty good idea of the layout. There are two places here that I can’t figure out what they are. They aren’t laid out like homes, shops or, well, prisons. One of them is probably where the Hatred stores valuable things.” 

“Okay,” Eve sighed, “but that still gives us two places to search. We can’t do both.”

Vix laughed. “I said there are two places that I can’t figure out what they are. One is a huge chamber under the courtyard. There are several staircases that lead down there, so I doubt that is where the Hatred keeps important things. The other is a room that doesn’t seem to have a door. I’d personally put my secret stash where it is impossible to go.”

Eve didn’t have Fire, but I swear she blew smoke out her nose. “Fine, tell me how to get there, and I’ll meet you back home when I get this crystal.”

“You do remember that this is a Dungeon right? The room is on the other end of the base. It would much easier to lead you there.” Vix argued.

“Absolutely not. You need to go home right now young lady!” Eve snapped.

“Eve, we won’t find the vault without her. Besides we have badges again. If worse comes to worst we can warp and go. I won’t argue.” I stared into Eve’s eyes, mentally pleading. 

A half smile flickered across Eve’s face. “I got back to you, and we are having this same argument. Slink, I don’t know-”

_ Bang! _

The three of us jumped and glanced at the door in time to see Lee lash out with his left arm. He didn’t move his feet, or turn his head. He just threw his fist out to the side, and knocked Crash unconscious with one move. “You three may want to hurry up.” 

“Eve, if we are doing this, we have to do this now! Are you with me?”

Eve fixed Vix and me with a stern glare. “We have to be quick and quiet. We cannot be captured by the Hatred at any cost.” She sighed through her nose. “I can’t believe we are doing this.

“The fastest way there is through the courtyard. So Vix, you lead us-” I attempted.

“No. They are trying to capture her and kill you. I’ll lead, you go in the middle, and Vix will cover the rear. If somebody comes from the front, I can hold them off until you get out. If they come from behind, they will shoot to disable, not kill, once again giving us time to get out.”

“There is the Eve optimism I missed,” I muttered sarcastically

We stepped out of the cell, briefly stopping to talk with Lee as we went. “We’re good here,” Eve said, “go find your team, and please, come back safely.” He grunted again before straightening up and walking slowly down the hallway in the opposite direction to us. 

I started my Psychic pulses once again as we headed off down the hallway. I wanted the jump on any Hatred member that we might come across. The hallways were still deserted, despite the blaring alarms. I assumed that either no Hatred member had made it past the Society members, or they were all evacuating or something. Still, I tried not to let my guard down…

_ Bang!  _ Eve threw herself backwards, throwing a Psychic barrier up over the three of us. She frantically looked around for whatever had made that noise. When no source presented itself Eve slowly lowered the barrier. “There’s probably a fight nearby. Sounds probably echo for miles in here.” After her jump her bag had started to slip off of her shoulder. She shrugged it back into place. The subtle movement though quickly drew my attention to the satchel. 

“Wait, isn’t that my bag?” I asked. Eve flinched, and her paw came up to touch the black leather bag. 

“Yes,” she admitted with a substantial blush. “I hope you don’t mind. I’ve been using it since you’ve… been gone.” Her voice got much quieter. “It helped to have a reminder of you. That’s the only thing that got me through some nights.”

This realization hit me with a wave of shame. I had been dwelling so much on my own problems, I hadn’t even thought about how this whole thing was affecting Eve. To be fair, she seemed to have taken it in stride. She held herself differently, and it looked good on her. 

“I’m so proud of you. I hope you know that.” I said.

Vix huffed behind us. “Would you two either get out of the way or find a room? Specifically that room, because we are here.” We were standing in front of a rather small, wooden door. Unlike the ones that belonged to residential areas, this door was just a simple plank of wood. It had no embellishments, and it was about half the size of any other door I had seen in the entire base. I pushed it open into a cramped closet that was stuffed with shelves, cleaning supplies, and lit by a tiny lightbulb high above that cast everything in a sickly green light.

“Vix,” Eve said nervously, “are you certain that this is the right place? This looks like a broom closet. I don’t think the Hatred would put anything valuable in here.”

“Seriously Eve,” Vix scolded as she moved over to the far wall. She seemed to be studying it, but I had no idea what for. “Do you really still doubt me? If you had a secret vault, would you put it behind grand double doors? Would you put dozens of guards around it at all times? Seriously that just screams ‘please steal me now’.” Vix settled before the wall and closed her eyes. It took me a minute to realize what she was doing, although I wasn’t surprised. She had discovered a new ability, and now she was playing with it like it was a new toy.

The now-familiar growl emanated from her body as the universe began to shift around her once more. Then she collapsed with a strangled cry just as a doorway appeared in the wall. I darted forward just in time to catch the Vulpix before she hit the ground. Her eyes were a bit unfocused as she looked up at me. “Please don’t make me do another of those today. Actually, don’t ask me to do that again for a few weeks. Damn that is hard.”

I helped Vix get to her feet before we both slowly wandered over to where Eve was waiting by the door. “Where’d you learn that trick?” Eve asked as we approached.

“You know picked it up,” Vix said blearily, “you can only spend so many days staring at a brick wall before you start warping the fabric of reality.” Behind her I rolled my eyes and Eve laughed. Still though I could feel the exhaustion in her voice.

Before we could enter the next room, Eve threw out her tail. “We don’t know if there is anyone in there,” she said biting her lip. “I’ll go first, and call for you when it is safe.” Carefully, as though she expected Smoke to come bursting out of the secret room at any moment, Eve crept forward. As soon as she crossed the threshold warm yellow light flared up within the room. Eve flinched, waiting for some sort of trap. When none came, she glanced back at me, nodded, and then darted deeper into the room.

“Thank you,” I mumbled to Vix as soon as Eve was gone. “You’ve been invaluable, and I am so proud of you. But you’ve done all you can. You should go home.”

“What?” Vix slurred. “I can’t go yet. I can’t leave while you guys are still here!”

“Vix you are exhausted. No offense but you can’t do anymore. You should go home where it is safe.”

“No, I want to-”

“Slink! Hurry! Come here!” I heard Eve call. My hackles raised at her voice. She sounded anxious, but not afraid. Probably not a Hatred member. Still…

“Go home,” I ordered without even glancing at Vix. 

“No, I won’t leave you guys!”

“Fine. Stay here, but if we don’t come back in two minutes you get out of here. Understand?” I didn’t even wait for her response as I slowly approached the hidden room. 

The room was much larger than I had expected. Honestly, that should have been my first clue that something strange was happening. The roof soared, almost reaching the same height as the courtyard. Along the walls were several sturdy, polished shelves burdened with all sorts of things. There were books, orbs, wands, and several shelves were filled with evolutionary stones.

I only got to examine a few of the objects, but there were a few that stuck with me. There was a glass ball on a tall shelf that somehow seemed to be filled with… space. Perhaps it was the shape of the glass, but the inside seemed to stretch away into eternity. Swirling darkness hung inside it dotted with what seemed like thousands of tiny stars. A small note pinned to the front of the shelf read:  _ Grass Continent, Era of Time, Palkia? _

On the other side of the room was a shelf that had several types of stones. For the most part they seemed pretty common, but one caught my eye. It was polished, grey, triangular, and surprisingly familiar. It felt like the stone around my neck had suddenly grown heavier. I had always thought my stone was a common, albeit somewhat decorative, stone. If that was the case though why would the Hatred have one just like it in their base?

But the main attraction, and the item that drove everything else from my mind, was the giant contraption that stood in the center of the room. The base was stone, with a tall panel covered in buttons and leavers rising up like a gravestone among the rocky circle. Twisted metal probes stretched upward, purple light flickering between them. Wires were interwoven between the thicker strands, and then were braided together into little flanges that hung off the main structure. Smaller, thinner wires hung from the ceiling. They twisted and fused with others, more and more to make thicker cables until midway between floor and ceiling all of the metal twisted together into a thick bole. It was a tree. It was  _ the _ tree.

On the side was a pattern that resembled a diamond and it glowed, for lack of a better word, with an anti-light. The rest of the room was well lit, and by all rights, the tree should have been too, but it seemed to absorb the light. Black goo dripped from the metal joints, but it never seemed to hit the floor. I couldn’t tell when during the fall it happened, but the ooze simply vanished. At the edge of my hearing I could barely detect a low, thrumming rhythm. A heartbeat.

Eve stood in shocked awe of the structure. “Do you see that?” she managed to gasp. I was going to ask her what she meant, because of course I saw the giant skeletal tree, when I saw something else. The metal didn’t form a complete cover. Even in the center, the metal was only woven together. Through this though, I could see a column of glowing silver mist that hung in the center of the tree. Only then did I become aware of the shimmer that filled the air around the tree. It was like heat sizzling off a stove, or the boundary of a Dungeon.

“Is that…?” I mumbled, but I didn’t need to finish my question. So this was why the base was a Dungeon and didn’t shift. Somehow they were using this machine to hold it off. But that should’ve been impossible. Right?

“I’d bet it’s like an anchor,” Eve said as she hesitantly moved closer. “It holds them to this dimension. I’d guess it also dampens, or at least spreads out the Crimson Peak’s power.” I got the feeling that under any other circumstances Eve could have spent hours studying the machine. She peered up at the panel and glanced over the myriad of switches and buttons. 

She froze. “Slink, we need to go!” 

I sighed. “Eve, I know. Help me find the crystal, and we can go.” 

Eve shook her head, a note of panic entering her voice. “We need to go now. Look.” She pointed with her tail at the panel, directing my attention to two large buttons in the center. The one on the left was black, and was labeled “Shift & Purge”. The one on the right was red and yellow striped and it read ‘Emergency Protocol Δ’. “I don’t know what ‘Emergency Protocol Delta’ means, but if there was ever an emergency for the Hatred, it's now. The Expedition Society knows where the base is. Slink, somebody has to be headed here!”

We didn’t waste another second. Together we scoured the room, knocking over a couple of things in the process. Finally, in the back on a low shelf I found it. Well, not it. Them. There were two. Both were mostly clear and were shaped like horns: long, roughly cylindrical, and curved. One was covered in jagged protrusions on one side and was much thicker than the other. The second was perfectly smooth leading up to a sharp, square tip. “Eve, I’ve got ‘em.” I called. 

Eve hurried over to me as I picked up the smoother crystal. I felt a jolt, like a kick in the stomach. It was as if the shard was electrified and me grabbing it had discharged it all at once. There was a warmth that filled my chest as well, but it was gone in an instant. I shuddered as I dropped the shard into the bag that hung over Eve’s shoulder. The sensation was even worse with the second shard. I honestly felt almost queasy, and I was glad to drop it into my bag.

“Alright, let’s get Vix and get the heck out of here,” Eve said. She raised an eyebrow at me. “That is unless you have something else to do. Anything else you  _ have to _ find? Anybody else you  _ need  _ to rescue?”

I couldn’t help but respond. “Actually, I am kinda hungry, and the food here has really grown on me. Want to grab a plate for the road?”

Eve laughed. “If it’s between us and Vix, sure. We can do that.” We were still grinning when we left the secret room. Although our jovial nature didn’t stop us from running.

It wasn’t something I heard, or something I knew was coming. I was just glad I still had my Psychic going when we left the room. As soon as we crossed the threshold, I felt another presence. And that was never a good thing. I pushed Eve out of the way, and then danced backwards, away from the door just as a huge metal staff slammed into the floor where we had been standing, leaving an I-shaped mark where it had impacted.

“Dammit,” Stanley growled as he picked up his girder, easily slinging it back over his shoulder. “Nearly had you that time.” He grinned at me, but I knew that this was no time to freeze. I raised my paw, ready to warp out. “Bu-bu-bup.” Stanley chided as he noticed my movement. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Wouldn’t want to leave Vix here all alone, now would we?”

He lifted his left hand, revealing that he had Vix clamped in his grasp. Her brown eyes were huge in her face. I knew she wouldn’t dare even twitch; she was so small compared to him that he circled her neck with only his thumb and finger. He grinned at me menacingly, just daring me to make a move.

I could feel Psychic power gathering behind him, presumably from Eve. “Stanley,” I shouted trying to distract him while Eve made her move.  _ Wham! _ A pulse of energy shot at him, almost sizzling through the air, but it missed his head by inches. The Gurdurr turned with a roar, slamming his staff into the shelves as he went. There were several ear-shattering  _ screeches  _ as metal was ripped apart from the force. Shelves collapsed in a domino effect into several twisted, deadly piles.

My heart was in my throat I searched my connection for Eve. I could still feel her Psychic, but it wasn’t being used to attack. I could just barely see a sliver of pink under the wreckage. At the moment, all of her power was needed to keep her from being crushed.

I tried to gather my own Psychic, but Stanley spun back around, leveling his girder at me. “No sudden moves Fennekin. One ounce of Psychic and you’ll regret it.” 

Honestly it was presumptuous for him to assume that I would attack him with Psychic. I wanted to use the element he was weak to of course, but I was struggling to wrestle my Fire under control. I needed a plan, or else I was liable to explode. 

“I’m going to kill you Fennekin. I hope you understand that. And if you do anything, anything at all… well we only need the Vulpix to be able to talk. Walking isn’t a necessity.” To punctuate his point, he held Vix up and started to squeeze. 

I heard her yelp, and suddenly I was back in the illusion, staring at Vix’s broken form.

I don’t remember much of what happened next, but I distinctly recall all of my Psychic evaporating as my Fire exploded out of control. Words echoed in my head, deafening me to reality. 

_ Otherwise something… unfortunate... might happen to her… _

_...only a millimeter closer... we wouldn’t be having this conversation… _

_...she will not be able to use her back legs or tails again…  _

_...Do you trust me... _

_....I guess the Fennekin values all of your lives more than his… _

_...They were trying to hide you, that should be reason enough…  _

Thoughts didn’t swirl in my head, they churned and boiled. Reality and time shattered as something within me broke. A monster, a demon, of flame exploded out of my heart rushing out to take over my body and brain. Within the illusion I thought I had reached the limit of my rage, but that hadn’t even been close to what was happening now. I know I briefly turned into a feral as all capacity for rational thought left me. 

Flames exploded from my mouth and nose. My fur caught, fire seeming to exude from my skin. My vision was swirling in shades of red, yellow, and black. All I could taste was fire, all I could feel was fire.

I. WAS. FIRE. 

The last coherent thought I had for a while were six small words that exploded out of me. “Get your hands off my daughter!”

I was flying through the air.

I was tearing at flesh with tooth and claw.

I was reveling in the tortured screams that filled the air.

And then it was over. Awareness washed over me and I realized I was curled in a corner, just like where Eve had found me over a year ago. A terrible, sour stench filled the room, along with disgusting, oily, black smoke. 

A blisteringly cold paw touched my shoulder. Or at least it felt bitterly cold. I was so hot that even the small flames flickering around my feet felt like little tongues of ice. I spun around slowly, to find Eve staring back. 

“Go home Slink,” she said. Perhaps it was my state at the time, but I don’t remember her voice ever being that soothing before or since. “Go home.”

In the end, I don’t know whether she or I pressed my badge, sending me back to HQ.

* * *

I was curled up on the bed, my head pressed into the pillow. Candice had said I was free to go hours ago, but I didn’t care. It was better in the pillow. I knew Eve and Vix were nearby, I could feel their minds, but I wasn’t ready to face them. I didn’t think I ever would be. 

I had arrived back numb and frozen. The cold pit in my stomach was so large I thought it was going to swallow me whole. My mind kept taking me back to that moment, and I had to watch it play out again and again. I kept trying to change things, but this was my purgatory. I could only watch helplessly as I destroyed Stanley again and again.

It was worse than in the illusion. At least there Stanley’s death had been an accident. This time I had meant it. As much as I regretted it, I meant it. When I had tried for Shane in the illusion, at least part of my mind knew it wasn’t real. Now though, I would never be able to forget what I did. 

How did Smoke do it? At the very least he had killed my family. Three people who were innocent. How was that guilt not eating him up inside? 

I wondered if Stanley’s death would hit him as hard as my parents death had hit me.

I think that I fell asleep at some point, because suddenly the room was full. Abby and Sierra had joined Eve and Vix at the foot of my bed. “What did the nurse say was wrong with him?” Sierra whispered. 

“Technically nothing,” Eve said softly, “He and Vix are a bit malnourished and dehydrated after everything, but physically that is all. Mentally, who knows what they did to him. I think he’s in shock. He hasn’t moved for a while now.”

“What’s he in shock about?” Sierra asked not unkindly, but with a tremor of derision in his voice. “You said he was fine when you found him.”

“He killed Stanley.” Eve said. 

“To save me,” Vix added with a shuddering sigh. “I shouldn’t have been there. Slink told me to go home and now…” her voice broke as she trailed off.

“Stanley was one of the ones who took Abby right?” Sierra asked.

“Yes,” Eve said nervously.

“Good,” Sierra snapped, “I don’t see why Slink has any regrets about ending him.”

“Dad?” Abby cried.

Eve and Vix were up and arms about it too. “Sierra, he was a person too. Don’t be such an ass.”

“But-” Sierra snapped, but Eve cut him off.

“Obviously it’s hitting Slink hard. Now let's stop arguing before we wake him up.”

“Too late,” I mumbled.

They were all silent for a moment. Finally Eve spoke up. “Hey Vix, why don’t you head home with Sierra and Abby. I’ll stay with Slink, and we’ll be back later. We’ll even grab dinner on our way home, okay?”

“But…” Vix tried to protest. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t even move, but I felt the same way. She had been my lifeline for the past two weeks. It was hard to part with her, even temporarily. 

“Vix, it’s okay,” Eve said, “we’ll be back in a couple hours. He needs some time, and I’m gonna stay with him until he is ready.”

“Besides,” Sierra said, and I swore there was a smirk hidden in his words. I didn’t catch the rest of his sentence as he whispered it directly in Vix’s ear. I heard Vix grumble a bit, but that seemed to be the end of the argument. 

“Come on Vix,” Abby said softly. “Mr. Gloom got three new games while you were gone, and dad isn’t nearly as fun to play as you are.” 

“You mean as fun to lose to,” Vix said sounding more like herself. “You’re going down Red Disaster.” 

“Red Disaster?” Abby teased. “After two weeks in a cell I’d have thought you would have spent at least a little time coming up with better insults, Sixtales.”

“Ooh, now you are really going down.” Vix growled playfully. “First one there gets to pick the first game!” I heard the pair run off. I opened one eye and watched them both dash out of the hospital. Just before she left though Vix turned her head to look back and we met eyes. She blushed, ducked her head, and then hurried out of the room.

“ _ Get your hands off of my daughter!”  _ Uggh, why’d I have to say that. I certainly cared about Vix, and I would be kidding myself if I didn’t consider her my daughter. Still I had no idea how comfortable she was with the idea. 

Suddenly I was face to face with Eve, and she didn’t look happy. “I know you are awake. Now get up!”

I didn’t know what she’d do if I didn’t so I quickly sat up. Nevertheless, I refused to meet her gaze. “Slink, look at me. I don’t blame you. He was going to kill you and hurt Vix if you didn’t. You did the only thing you could.”

I was shaking my head far before she finished. “No. There were so many ways that could have gone. I could’ve easily broken his arm or knocked him out with Psychic. I could’ve given into him, and…” I trailed off as I realized where that train of thought went. “I could’ve ended that without killing him.”

“Slink you made the best decision you could-”

“Eve,” I said, almost begging, “I lost control. Fire took over and… That’s the worst part. I don’t remember half of what happened.” I don’t know why it was so important to me that Eve agree. I guess it would have taken the guilt from me to have Eve yell and scream at me, to have the Society lock me up for my crimes. I wanted some way to atone for what I had done. “I don’t know Eve. What if I could have-?”

“If? If! Slink I missed Stanley. I had a clear shot to knock him out and end the whole thing, but I missed. Do you not think that I’m going to have to live with that for the rest of my life? What if I had hit him? Slink we could play the ‘what if’ game all day, but it won’t change what happened. I hate to say it, but we are just going to have to figure out how to live with it. Slink this mistake doesn’t make you a bad person.”

She stared me down for a moment before hopping up on the bed with me. She bent down to nuzzle me. “Slink, you are one of the friendliest and most loving people I know. I know this was a mistake. Please don’t let this ruin your life.” As she spoke I felt her mind move closer to mine. Part of me, my Fire, wanted to shy away, to raise my wards and force her away. I pushed it down, it had caused enough trouble for one day.

I took a deep breath. “I’ll try.” But my words felt empty, even to me. I think we both knew that I wouldn’t be able to forget, at least not easily.

Eve smiled at me wanly. “Just for tonight? Please?” 

I think I knew what she was talking about. Was it cowardly? Yes. Was it what I needed right now? Almost certainly. “Yes,” I said just before I felt a soft  _ click  _ in my head.

“That’s all I’m asking for. Come on, lets get dinner and then go home.” I stood up on shaky legs. For the first time I looked around the rest of the hospital. I’d have guessed that about half of the beds were full, although that number was growing as more and more Society members returned from their assault on the Hatred base. Candice and her assistants were busily scurrying up and down the row of beds tending to the many patients. At the best I saw mild cuts and scrapes, and the worst… only burns and broken bones. 

Two figures stood out to me. Across the aisle and two beds down a familiar grey mass was curled up on the bed. “Oh Arecus, how could I forget about Ashley.” I said, ready to rush over to her.

Eve grabbed my shoulder before I could move. “Candice gave me a report while you were...sleeping. There was nothing wrong with her, except she was utterly exhausted. Poor thing. Candice put her to sleep. She said she’d call me when she had finished up with everyone else and ask what to do with her.”

I glanced at Eve sheepishly. “She’s staying with us right? I can’t leave her here. I promised I would keep her safe until I found her parents.”

She gave me a lopsided grin. “I didn’t really expect anything else. I guess she can sleep in our room. You know, Slink you really need to stop inviting strangers to live with us.” She meant it as a joke, but...I turned my attention to the other figure I had noticed.

The big ball of yellow and black fur was only a few beds away from me, near the main doors. A similar blue and black Pokemon sat anxiously at his bedside. Eve didn’t stop me as I walked over to them. I sat down next to the Luxio, not looking at him, so that I was facing Leo. The big shiny Luxray was snoring softly with his front left leg encased in a bright yellow cast.

“Is he gonna be okay?” I asked.

Buzz nodded slowly. “Yeah. A fighting type kicked him in the leg. He should be fine in a few weeks.”

“I’d like to thank you and your father for helping us. You guys saved my life. I don’t think I can repay you.” 

Buzz still didn’t look at me, but I saw his lips twitch as he almost smiled. “I think he would tell you that we are even at this point. You saved my life too, Slink.”

“Still,” I said, “it can’t be easy for him now. The Hatred can’t be happy with him giving them up.”

“Yeah. He told me before we left that he’ll probably have to leave the continent after this. Even if the Hatred doesn’t know already that he gave them up, they will find out.” 

“Does he have to leave? Can’t the Society do something?” I asked.

Buzz shook his head. “He’d rather leave than put more people in danger trying to protect him. I know you’ve met Smoke, and if even half the things that my dad told me about him are true, I wouldn’t want to give him a chance to get to me either.”

I nodded. “What about you? You are more than welcome to stay with us. It is the least we can do. You could be a huge help to the team.”

The Luxio nodded. “I don’t know yet. I have a few weeks, until he heals, before he has to go. I’ll think about it.”

“Just remember,” Eve suddenly said, “our doors are always open to you. Whatever you decide, if either of you need help just find us.” Eve walked over, resting her tail on his shoulder and squeezing gently. “Thank you for everything, both of you. I’m glad to call both of you friends.”

“Thanks,” he whispered, “that’s not something my dad has had for a while.”

Eve waited at the door as I took one last look around at those who were here. All of them had helped save my life, whether they had known it or not. All of them had answered Eve and Kegan’s call for help. I couldn’t have been more grateful. 

I turned back to the Espeon and found her smiling. My bag was on the floor by her feet, and her bag was back over her shoulder. I couldn’t help but return her smile as I saw it. Everything wasn’t necessarily back to normal, but this was a good step in the right direction. We left the base, passing Kegan and Dimitri who nodded at us (Dimitri’s eye glowed yellow when he saw me).

“Come on Slink, we’re gonna be late.” Eve said. She started walking faster.

“Late? To pick up dinner?” I sped up to match her as she took the lead. Strangely she didn’t seem to be headed towards any of the restaurants we normally went to. I only figured out where we were going when Eve stopped in front of our destination. I couldn’t help but laugh as I saw the brightly-lit sign above the door.  _ The Gogoat! _

Eve grinned at me. “Though you might want to try it, considering the last time we were supposed to come here.” She turned and pushed open the front door.

The place wasn’t exactly what I was expecting to be honest. It was bright in there from the multitude of windows and light fixtures. The walls were a cheery, albeit a bit obnoxious, yellow-green color, but there were enough paintings and pictures to tone it down to a comfortable level. Most of the tables were tall and made of polished steel with high stools crowned with colorful cushions crowded around them. It was a warm, upbeat environment, and I enjoyed it.

The titular Pokemon, a Gogoat, stood waiting behind a short podium with a thick reservation book lying open on it. “Hello. How many?”

I was about to answer that we were getting five to-go orders, but Eve was already talking. “Two. I have a reservation for Eve.” The Gogoat’s expression changed as he heard that. He looked me up and down, as if examining me in a new light. 

“Er, right. Do you both have your tickets?” he asked, quickly regaining his composure. 

“Tickets?” I asked.

Eve bumped me with her shoulder. “In your bag,” she prompted. I was very confused, but I looked in my bag. Understanding flooded my mind as I found the two glossy yellow tickets from the grand opening right at the top. I shot Eve a look as I pulled out the tickets and handed them to the Gogoat. 

“Excellent. It seems you two are going to be seated at table nine. Follow me please.” He grabbed a pair of menus in his mouth before heading deeper into the restaurant.

I cocked my head at Eve, offering her a half-smile. “How long have you been planning this one?”

Eve shrugged. “I figured that after the last two weeks, we deserved a do-over of our date. Just let yourself enjoy it. Please?”

“Here we are… oh.” The Gogoat blushed. “Sorry about this, give me a moment.” He turned and rushed off, deeper into the restaurant. The table he had led us to was covered in a significant layer of dust. Even the small “reserved” sign was coated in dust. I glanced around, confused. This whole place was immaculate. Why was there dust on this table?

Suddenly the Gogoat was back with a Minccino following close behind. The small grey Pokemon hopped up on the table and immediately began wiping it off with her long tail. “Once again, sorry. We’ve never used this table. I guess the cleaning staff forgot about it.” The Minccino leapt from the table to his back. “Thanks Cici. What can I get you two started with this evening?” The Gogoat placed the menus onto the table as Eve and I climbed into our seats. 

“Pecha berry juice for him, Oran for me.” Eve said not even looking at the menu. 

“Of course,” the goat said. “I’ll be right back with those.”

And finally we were alone. I tried to look at the menu, but Eve was staring at me nervously. “Can I help you?” I eventually asked.

Eve blushed, but she didn’t look away. “Do you like it?” she asked.

“I’m with you. Of course I like it. Although is it weird that they don’t use this table? Why wouldn’t they use it?”

“They better not use it?” Eve said, an edge to her voice. “They better not have given my table to anybody else.”

“Your table? Eve how long have you had this table reserved?”

“Since the night this place opened. Two weeks at least.” She said it like it was no big deal, but I was stunned.

“You kept the reservation? How’d you know I was gonna...come back?”

Eve avoided my gaze. “I didn’t. But I had faith that you would get back. I had to. I couldn’t let myself think of the alternative.”

We chatted for a few more minutes as we surveyed the menu. We dropped the more serious topics, and we simply talked about stuff. Eventually the Gogoat brought us our drinks and took our orders. 

As the Gogoat noted down our order, Eve hopped down from her stool. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she said as she headed towards the bathroom.

“So she found you,” the waiter said once Eve had left. “I will say it was an odd request when she had me reserve this table, especially the night the place opened. But when she told us the why, well what could I do? Although I’m glad you both made it tonight. I’d hate for the reservation to run out without you guys being here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, just as Eve returned.

“Tonight was the last night that this table was reserved. I’m glad you could make it.” With that he left.

I stared at Eve in curiosity as she returned to her seat. “Why does the reservation end tonight?” I asked. “Did you know?”

Eve shrugged. “I gave myself a deadline to rescue you if possible. I figured that you would probably only be able to hold out for two weeks. Once I got Kegan on board I set the end of the reservation for tonight. Because by tonight I would know whether we would be celebrating, or I would be burying you.”

I was stunned. Simply awed by her faith and devotion. Then we simply started talking. It wasn’t anything about the last two weeks, we just talked. We could’ve been any two Pokemon on a date. We talked about ourselves, we shared funny anecdotes, and asked questions. It was like we were simply picking up where we had left off.

After dinner we had a nice sedate walk home. I barely paid attention to anything as we walked, not even Eve. I was staring up at the stars and tracing the constellations, breathing in the cool night air, and letting my mind wander for the first time in a while. Eve looped her tail around my waist to keep me on track.

Still though, I was ready to pass out by the time we made it home. The staircase to the second floor of the building was about all I could take. The smell of the place is what hit me first as Eve opened the door. It was comfortable and familiar, and I felt myself instantly relax even more if possible. What I wasn’t expecting though was that the TV was still on. It was nearly eleven at that point, and after the day everyone had had, I assumed they would be asleep. Then I realized what must have happened.

“Damn it Vix,” I mumbled under my breath. I directed my voice to the figure on the couch. “Sierra go back to bed. I’ll talk to Vix in the morning.”

“Sierra? Slink I must say I’m insulted.” Vix glared at me over the back of the couch. 

“Vix,” Eve said softly, “what are you doing up? You should be asleep.”

The Vulpix ducked her head. “I know. I tried. I couldn’t sleep. I had a…a...a nightmare.” She hesitated on the word, as if she was loathe to admit it. “I was waiting for you guys. Can...can I…?” She sighed.

“Vix, would you like to sleep with us tonight?” I said. I completely understood her discomfort. I couldn’t imagine waking up alone right now. I glanced at Eve, who nodded in agreement. 

“Yes,” Vix grumbled, sounding like she didn’t care one way or the other. I knew better, but she was just too stubborn to admit it.

I smiled at her. “Come on.” Eve lead the way into the room, but stood back as Vix hopped up onto our bed. The girl stood there for a moment, looking unsure as she curled up tightly tucking her snout into her tails. Eve clambered up next, curling around Vix. As soon as the Vulpix felt Eve’s reassuring warmth around her, she melted. The tight ball she had pulled herself into uncurled, and I could see the calm that washed over her. I sidled up beside them both, draping a foreleg over Eve so that my paw resed on Vix’s side. We stayed that way for a while, simply reveling in the feeling of being together again until their breathing slowed, the gentle rhythm lulling me to sleep. 

Together, we were happy.

* * *

I knocked on the door three times and then sat down to wait. Eve was sitting right beside me, her tail laying across mine. Ashley waited shyly behind me, hopping from foot to foot. 

It had been a long two weeks since the mission, and it had taken a lot to find Ashley’s family. A few times we weren’t certain if we would find them, and with how hard it was to find them I had been silently nervous that they hadn’t wanted their daughter back. Still, I had made a promise, and I was going to keep it.

The day after the raid Ashley came to live with us. We had to adjust quite a bit to having a five year old move in, but eventually we all warmed up to the literally fiery child. She slept in our room, in the other bed, although like Vix she spent the first week home almost incapacitated by nightmares. Some mornings I found that she had crawled into bed with Eve and me, and was curled up happily under my ear. 

Of course we spent most of those two weeks trying to find Ashley’s family. Unfortunately we didn’t have much to go on, and our only source, Ashley, was five. That meant that getting information out of her was like trying to use Psychic on a Dark type. We did eventually make progress however, and the small snippets we were able to gather gave us enough clues to start our search. 

It was almost incidental when Ash gave us our first major lead. We were watching the news one night, and Meowth was giving his report. Apparently the Expedition Society had tracked a criminal to the tiny town of Starreach, but the trail had gone cold at that point. Ashley had just barely looked up at the screen from where she was playing a game with Vix and Abby. “Hey, I live there,” she said to the screen, then she returned to the game.

I am so glad that Eve (who had the remote) was listening as she instantly paused the TV. The image froze showing Meowth standing in front of a short, one story house with blue trim. “Ash, are you telling us that that house right there on the TV is where you lived before the Hatred took you?”

Ashley looked at Eve curiously, and then glanced back at the TV. “No my house is red. That house is just down the street though. I could see it from my window. I always thought it was pretty.”

Boom. And just like that we had a place to start. Ashley had lived in Starreach village.

Unfortunately there was one problem. Kegan outright refused to let any of my team leave the safety of Festive Town. “We just stirred up the wasp nest and you guys want to leave? Absolutely not. In a few weeks when we have more information on the Hatred’s movements, maybe. But not now.”

“You know where the base is now,” I protested, “you can’t tell me you don’t have a team or two watching them.”

“Hard to do that when you don’t know where they are.” Kegan grumbled, running his hands through his long mustache. “The base is gone. I don’t know how, but the Hatred base is no longer in the Crimson Peak’s crater.” “How is that even possible?” Eve asked. “Did they just evacuate?”

Kegan shook his head. “The Mystery Dungeon is still there, and now works fully as far as we can tell, but even the building is gone! I don’t understand it, and I have every branch of the Expedition Society trying to figure it out. Our best experts over on the Water Continent have told me that to hold off a Dungeon’s shift would take insane amounts of energy. They don’t even know how that machine you both saw would even work.”

“Kegan, I get it,” I said, “but we can’t just not do this. If the trail goes cold, we may never find Ashley’s family.”

“I’m sorry Slink. I really am, but it is far too dangerous for me to let any Society Members, other than those who are tracking the Hatred, out of Festive town.” 

“Kegan, what if you teleported us to Starreach?” Eve suggested quietly. “We won’t be out in the open travelling, so they can’t ambush us, and they won’t know we are there for a while. Ash being shiny may give us away, but that still gives us a couple days at least.”

The Kedabra glared between me and Eve for a moment before sighing. “You have two days, understand. If you don’t warp home after that I am disbanding your team. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir,” Eve and I chirped happily.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Kegan muttered to himself. “Be here bright and early tomorrow morning.”

After that everything went pretty smoothly. The next morning Kegan dropped Eve, Ash, and me in an alley in Starreach. Once there, we went directly to the blue house we had seen on the news and had started walking around looking for the red house Ashley had lived in. There were a couple of them nearby, so we went door to door. Unfortunately none of their occupants seemed to recognize Ashley. 

When we started asking about a Delphox we had slightly more luck, but not much. An old Floatzel was the only one who seemed to have any idea. She remembered a Delphox quitting her job at the Temple of Arceus in the village. When the Floatzel had asked, the Delphox had explained that she and her family were moving off continent. 

It was actually an amazing clue. Civilians only had one way on or off of the continent. The Lapras port, a few miles south of Festive Town. We spent a few days there asking around if any of the water Pokemon remembered taking a Delphox anywhere. Eventually we had a destination. The Mist continent.

That is what led us there, to a small cabin on the outskirts of Post Town. I just hoped that we hadn’t come all the way to the Mist Continent for nothing.

Eve and I perked up as we heard the rasp of locks on the other side of the door, and then it swung inward revealing a sickly looking Delphox. Her fur was matted and hung off her in shaggy clumps. She was unhealthily thin too, and from the way she held herself it appeared that she had only recently lost a lot of weight. She was far shorter than my parents, and even my sister had been. Her wand was also curious; a willow branch that was so long that the tip was sheathed in the fur on her hip before it curled in an arc behind her back with the handle stuck in the fur of her other hip. “Hello?” She said when she saw us, her hand automatically drifting down towards the handle of her wand. “What do you want?” She scanned us up and down before her eyes went wide. “Are you with the Society?! Please, just go away. I can’t lose my mate too, not after losing our daughter!”

She made to shut the door again, but I pushed out with my Psychic and prevented it from closing. “Wait a moment,” I said as the Delphox attempted to fight against me. I didn’t feel much Psychic from her, and from her voice I knew that she was emotional enough to be solidly within her Fire. “We aren’t about to take anybody away. We have your-”

“Mommy?” The Delphox froze at the voice. Ashley shyly peered out from behind me. She was looking up at the door with wide eyes. I dropped my Psychic, as I didn’t think the Delphox would shut us out anymore.

“A-Ash-Ashley?” Eve and I were forced to duck aside as the Delphox sprinted forward, falling to her knees before the small Fennekin. 

“Mommy!” Ash cried as she leapt forward into the open arms of the Delphox. Warmth filled my stomach as I saw it. In that instant I decided that everything I had been through was worth it just for this moment.

Eve and I sat by watching as the two reconnected, both purring deep in their throats. Eventually the Delphox looked up at us with tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said. “I don’t know how you found her, or found us, but thank you. I didn’t think I’d see her again.”

I bowed my head. “I understand. The Hatred took loved ones from me too. I don’t ever want anybody else to go through that. Besides, all I did was help a kid get home. I promised her I would.”

“How’d… how’d you find her? The Hatred…?”

“We were neighbors,” I said with a grimace. “The Hatred captured me and my...friend. She was in the cell next to ours. When the Expedition Society broke us out, we brought her with us.”

“But you aren’t shiny.” The Delphox said cocking her head. I sighed in resignation of playing twenty questions, but the other Pokemon plowed on quickly. “I’m sorry, that was rude of me. What are your names, may I ask?”

Eve nodded. “I’m Eve and that’s Slink,” she said. “Can I ask your name?”

“Xen,” the Delphox smiled, tears still glistening in her eyes. She shook her head. “I… you said that the Expedition Society broke you out. What…?”

Eve stepped forward. “I lead the mission. Slink and our teammate Vix were captured by the Hatred about a month ago-”

“A month ago?” Xen butted in. She had gone deathly pale, and was looking between us in horror. “Wha-what team are you?”

I glanced uneasily at Eve. “Team Mindfire.” If it was even possible, Xen seemed to get even paler.

“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Ash said. Even she was picking up on it. 

Before Xen could say a word, a strangely familiar voice butted in. “Xen dear, what’s wrong? You’ve been gone a while. What is happening out there?”

I felt myself tense at the nasally voice. Then a Watchog stepped into the doorway. “Ashley! Oh Arceus Ash. How are you..? Where did you..?” He looked up, saw Eve and me, and the blood drained from his face.

I remember several years ago when my sister had gotten in trouble. It was so long ago I don’t even remember what she had gotten in trouble over, but I will always remember the expression on my sister’s face as she recognized what was happening. It wasn’t anger, disappointment, or frustration. She didn’t protest, whine, or cry; she faced the music with a stoic, neutral expression. It was something that I always respected about her. 

The Watchog had the exact same expression. It was a look that said he recognized that he had done wrong, and that he was simply waiting for our verdict. There was no way I could actually like the guy after what he did, but in that moment, I respected him.

Eve wasn’t on the same train of thought as I was. “You!” She snarled. “You...slimy...deceitful...abhorrent…” for the first time since I had known her, Eve was so angry that she was at a complete loss of words. Unfortunately she wasn’t planning on using words. As she stumbled to find a word she deemed adequate to describe how terrible the Watchog was, I could feel her gathering power.

I took a step forward, placing a paw on Eve’s shoulder. “Enough. He isn’t worth it.” I muttered to her. She grumbled, but reluctantly let her power go. The glow from her gem slowly fizzled out. I turned to the Watchog who had fallen to his knees in the doorway.

“I surrender,” he said quietly. “Arrest me, take me away. I deserve it. Just leave my family be.” He glanced over at where Xen was clutching Ashley. “Whatever punishment you have for me, I’ll take it.”

As I looked at the family, I made a decision. “I’m not going to arrest you,” I said loud enough that everyone could hear me. The Watchog looked shocked, Xen burst into tears of relief, and Eve just didn’t look happy. Personally my anger towards the Watchog had waned since I had been imprisoned. “You owe me an explanation though. For everything.”

“You brought my daughter back,” he said, “and you spared me. I owe you everything.”

“Perhaps we should head inside. It is getting pretty late.” Xen suggested. She headed inside, but not before handing Ash off to her mate. He hugged her closely, and she purred before he got up and awkwardly invited us inside. 

The main room actually reminded me a lot of our apartment. It was simply a large space that was a combination of living room, kitchen, and dining room. However it was much larger than our apartment, and the longest wall was made of windows revealing a beautiful view of the town leading to the ocean. Xen turned back to us, clearly a little uncomfortable with the whole thing, but trying to be nice to us. “Would you like something to drink? We have tea or coffee.”

“Coffee?” Eve asked hopefully.

“Tea please,” I said, but I kept my eyes on the Watchog. He was carrying Ash on his shoulders, exaggerating his steps so he swayed side to side like a rocking ship. Ash giggled as she held on and swung along. Eventually he reached the kitchen table and plunked Ash down on one of the stools, running a paw between her ears.

He looked up and saw me watching him. He sighed and took a seat at the table and waved his hand at the two stools opposite him. Xen handed us steaming mugs before sitting down between her mate and daughter.

“When Ashley was born… we weren’t quite sure what to do,” the Watchog began. “We knew that the Hatred would be watching for her, and we also knew that our neighbors would treat her differently simply because she was Shiny.” He glanced up at me, pleading with his eyes. “You have to understand, I didn’t want Ashley to have to face any of that. All I wanted was to protect her.”

I met his gaze but revealed nothing. Eve however grimaced and nodded. “That’s all I ever wanted for Shane,” she muttered.

“Our main priority was avoiding the Hatred,” Xen continued. “So we decided that we needed to leave the Fire Continent. We also decided to keep Ashley as much of a secret as possible.”

“It wasn’t so easy as just moving though. I had a five year contract with my work, and we figured that it would be far more suspicious to just run out. Plus if I ran out of my contract my employer could have gotten the Expedition Society involved and stopped us from leaving the continent. It almost worked. We only needed three more days.”

“I came home one day to find the front door in pieces, and Xen unconscious on the floor. The house had been ransacked and searched. Ashley was nowhere to be found.” The Watchog paused. “This would have been a week before I met you guys.”

“I didn’t even know what happened,” Xen said hanging her head, “I heard the door slam open. Before I could get my wand out, the world went dark. By the time Charlie was able to wake me up, they were all gone, Ashley with them.”

The Watchog, or Charlie apparently, nodded. “Work didn’t seem to matter anymore after that. I’m not sure if I quit, or if they simply fired me. We looked all over town. Everywhere within a five mile radius was scoured for any sign of the Hatred. That was the longest forty-eight hours of my life. 

“Then, as the third day dawned, we found a letter on our front step. It was in a plain white envelope that was blank except for a black wax seal stamped with a skeletal tree. The letter inside was short and simple. It had a date, a location, and said that if I didn’t get Team Mindfire to that Dungeon on that date, they would kill Ash. What other choice did I have?”

He bowed his head, and I could see his shoulders shaking. Ashley’s eyes widened as she watched her father break down. She hesitantly reached out to him. The Watchog jumped as he felt his daughter’s paw on his shoulder. He smiled warmly at the child and pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay honey. You are back, and that is all that matters.”

“Not to be mean,” Xen butted in awkwardly, “but Ash needs to get to bed.”

“Awww,” the Fennekin pouted, but she perked up almost immediately. “Okay then. See you tomorrow Slink and Eve. I can show you my Entei toy. And my blankie. Oh, and my favorite book.” 

“Ash,” Eve said patiently, “Slink and I have to go home. We have to go back to Vix, Sierra, and Abby. We can’t stay.”

“Nooo. I don’t want you to leave. You are my friends.” Ashley pouted. Then she lit up, glancing up at me and Eve. “Can you guys come tuck me in? One more time?”

“Sure we can,” Eve said. 

Xen picked up the still pouting Fennekin and clutched her tightly to her chest as she carried Ashley back towards her bedroom. Eve followed along, but glanced back at me. “You comin’?”

“In a second,” I said as I glanced over at Charlie. He was just sitting there with his head in his hands.

He must have known I was watching him. He cracked open his fingers and peered out at me. “Y-you were serious? You aren’t going to arrest me?”

I cocked my head. “Do you want me to?” His eyes widened, but he hesitated before shaking his head. I stood up, leaping down from my stool. Charlie had sunk back into his paws, so he didn’t notice me circle the table to sit next to him. “You feel guilty.” It wasn’t a question. “You know you did something wrong, and part of you wants some sort of punishment. You want some way to atone for what you did since you know you can’t fix it.” 

He turned his head in his paws. His face was still cradled in his paws, but one beady red and yellow eye could now regard me. “How?” he breathed.

I shrugged, not meeting his eye. “Because I killed someone to save my tea-” I swallowed the rest of that word. I had already made it clear how I felt about Vix. It was time to own it. “- my daughter.”

“Do you regret it?” Charlie asked, although I suspected he already knew the answer. 

“Every day. But what’s done is done, and if I had to do it again, I would always choose Vix over him.” We were both silent for a while. “I’m not going to arrest you. I won’t take you away from your daughter again.”

I walked away without looking back. I didn’t blame him, and I hoped I had helped him move on. There were two doors in the back of the house leading, I assumed, to the bedrooms. One was shut, but the other was slightly ajar with a soft purple glow emanating from it.

Nosing the door aside, I saw Xen sitting on the end of a small bed and Eve standing at the side. What surprised me; however, was that Ash wasn’t on the bed, she was clinging to Eve. “Please don’t go Eve. I’ll miss you. I don’t want you to go.” 

“Ash, it’s okay. You are back with your mom and dad. You don’t need me.” Eve cooed.

“But you are my friend. I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Eve laughed. “You are my friend too. But Vix and Abby and Sierra are also my friends, and they are all over on the Fire Continent. I can’t just ignore them to only be your friend right?”

Ash seemed to deflate. “I guess so,” she pouted, but she perked up again when she saw me. “Slink, you can stay right?” 

I shook my head. “Vix, Abby, and Sierra are my friends too. I can’t leave them either. And besides,” I whispered, “Eve loves me and she can’t stand being away from me.” Eve gave me a look that said, I heard that, and I’ll get you back for it.

The little girl sat back, lifting a small fuzzy blanket up to her face. Even in the dark I could see that it was almost the exact same color as her eyes. “Okay. I guess you have to go.” Then her eyes widened as a thought struck her. “But you could  _ visit  _ right?”

Eve and I shared a look. “Of course we can visit.” Eve purred. “Would that be okay?”

Ashley nodded excitedly. “Yep.” 

“Goodnight Ashley. We will see you later, okay?” I said as the little fox settled into her bed.

“Goodnight Slink. Goodnight Eve. See you later Feraligatr.” Ashley said through a yawn. Before we had even left the room, Ash was asleep.

Before I left the room I looked back at the child. I had kept my promise, I had gotten her home, and I hoped she was now out of the Hatred’s grasp. I prayed that that was enough to keep her safe now. “After a while Totodile,” I whispered before I slipped out and shut the door. Mission accomplished, but I still had one thing to do before we could leave. 

Xen lead me and Eve back into the living room where Charlie was now sitting on the couch. He sat perched uncomfortably on the edge like he was going to spring up off of it at any moment. As we entered I saw him visibly stiffen. I wondered if he was afraid of looking too comfortable, and thus appearing cocky.

“Ash is asleep,” Xen said softly. She glanced at me and Eve with a rueful smile. “Part of me wants to stay in there the whole night. The Fire in me has me convinced that she’s going to disappear on us again.”

“I know the feeling,” Eve said before she nuzzled into my shoulder.

“Thank you. Thank you both,” Charlie said. “You have done more for me in one night than I could ever repay you for in a lifetime. Our doors are always open to you if you need a place to stay. And if you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask.”

“There is one thing.” I turned to Xen, praying to Arceus that she would have some answers for me. “What do you know about the Dreamstone?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second chapter of my bonus episodes story will be published alongside this chapter. Go check it out if you are interested.


	15. Father

Xen stared at me for a moment. “Dreamstone? You’re talking about…?”

I wasn’t sure whether to be hopeful, or worried at her tone. “The Hatred took a crystal shard from your home. I have reason to believe that it has something to do with something called the Dreamstone. Do either of those ring a bell?”

“I thought it was just a myth.” Xen muttered to herself, a hint of awe in her voice. She shook her head refocusing on me. “My mother told me stories about that. You said the Dreamstone?”

I thought my heart was going to explode from anticipation. Was I seriously about to get answers. Xen bit her lip thoughtfully. “You both may want to sit down. My mother said a lot, and I’m honestly not sure what is fact and what is fiction at this point.”

“Any information helps. I just need to know.” Xen flopped down in a straight-backed blue armchair as Eve and I settled on the couch. Somehow Charlie looked even more uncomfortable than before we sat down, but all I could focus on at that point was Xen. 

“My grandmother was born on the Mist Continent, although where my family came from before that, I have no idea. She worked for the Paradise for quite a while and was one of their top explorers. In fact the only reason she stopped was that she found out she was pregnant with my mother. Before that the Paradise relied on her to help them try and get an accurate map of the other continents.” She glanced at Eve and me before grimacing apologetically. “No offense to you guys, but the Paradise never had the resources to develop anything like your Nexus, and the Expedition Society is a bit stingy with their intelligence.”

“None taken,” Eve smirked.

“Right, well before she was retired the Paradise sent grandmother to the Water Continent to be their representative at the Decennial Council.”

“Wait, Decennial Council?” I interrupted. 

“It’s an event that started nearly 300 years ago,when the Societies on all the different Continents discovered one another.” Eve suddenly butted in, sounding more than a little excited. “They compared notes and found that nearly every continent had faced a world-ending threat, and each happened about 100 years apart once they corrected for the different calendars everyone used. They decided that in order to defend against future threats, each Guild would send a representative to a Council every ten years in order to notify the others of any potential world-ending threats.” 

Xen and I stared at her. “Uhhh,” I began.

Eve blushed. “I had a lot of time while I was waiting for the Rescue Party. I spent a lot of it in the library looking for any and all information on the Hatred. I learned a few things.”

“Anyway,” Xen continued, “it was a while ago, one or two after the whole Dark-Matter disaster. She was actually surprised to see that one of the representatives from the Expedition Society was also a Delphox. Apparently the two became friends rather quickly, and she actually stayed behind on the Water Continent for a few weeks afterwards.” Xen laughed, “Her ‘official’ story was that she stayed so that she could spend more time exploring the Continent. But the way I was told, I’m certain something else was going on.”

“What do you mean?” Eve asked raising an eyebrow.

Xen grinned impishly. “Let’s just say that based on when my mother was born, the timeline matches up.” She shook her head. “Unfortunately she was eventually called back to the Mist Continent. By the time she got back, life just got in the way. She fell back into her job, and then by the time she would have gotten a break she found out she was expecting mother. The Paradise grounded her. She wasn’t allowed to use any Paradise resources or do any Paradise work until I was born. I know that she wanted to go back to the Water continent and find my grandfather, but she obviously couldn’t use the Paradise’s Lapras Port. She would have used the civilian one, but that was when the Fire Continent was first discovered.”

“Why was that a problem?” I asked. Sure this story was interesting, but so far it had nothing to do with the Dreamstone. I hoped that if I was patient, Xen would get there. 

“It became almost a land rush. Every Pokemon on the planet wanted to go see the new land, all of the Societies wanted to get a foothold and gain control over it. After a small Rescue team was attacked by some ferals, the Paradise at least banned anyone from going there until it could be proven to be safe. They closed down the ports so that nobody could access the new continent anyways. It was over a year after my mother was born that my grandmother was able to get to the Water Continent. Grandma eventually was able to find that Delphox, but it was too late. He had become mates with another Delphox, and she was already expecting.” 

Xen sighed. “If he was my grandfather, my mother never resented him. I don’t think my grandmother did either. Still, they left the Water Continent almost immediately afterward. Grandma eventually became mates with the Infernape on her team. He treated mother like his own daughter, even though it was almost impossible that they were related by blood. They were happy for a while.”

“Excuse me,” Eve interrupted again, “but what does any of that have to do with the Dreamstone or the crystal shard?” I didn’t want to say it. Glad Eve did.

Xen nodded. “Sorry, I guess I got a little distracted there. Let’s see. I guess it really all started one stormy night when I was a child. I was awoken not by the booming thunder, but by an insistent knocking on the door. My bedroom door was cracked open slightly, and I watched as my parents rushed to the door. That Delphox, my grandfather, nearly stumbled into the house as the door opened.” She paused, tapping her paw on her leg as she thought. “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember much about his visit. The only thing I remember is him handing my mother a cloth-wrapped bundle. Then he disappeared back into the night. None of us ever saw him again.

“I only ever found out what the bundle was the day Charlie and I became mates. I remember my mom…” Xen trailed off, her face twisting into a scowl. Eve and I exchanged a glance. What was wrong?

“Ar-are you okay?” I asked tentatively.

“Huh?” Xen said as she snapped back to attention. “Oh sorry. I was just... I remember the whole thing so vividly. I’ve used Psychic to preserve that day perfectly in my mind. I’m just not sure what is important. I don’t want to leave out vital information by accident.” She stared out the window for a minute, biting her lip. When she turned back to us, she refused to meet my gaze. “You brought my daughter back. I owe you everything. You’re Psychic too. Let me  _ show  _ you the memory.”

I squirmed in my seat as she said that. “Are-are you sure? You trust me to go into your head?”

Xen tried a smile. “Come on Slink. We are both Psychic. Not quite sure it’s a matter of trust. I read you as soon as you came inside, just like your partner there read me.” Eve blushed as Xen called her out. “Quit making such a big deal out of this. Let me share this memory with you.”

Xen was being cavalier with this, but I could tell she was nervous. “Reading” a person meant simply getting a look at their mind without going inside or alerting them. Because of this you could only see surface level stuff. Who are they? What do they want? Sometimes you could even get a memory or two that they were dwelling on. That’s why it was so commonplace and accepted among Psychics. But showing someone a memory was different. It was showing them everything from that moment. The outside, like what you said, but also the inside. How you felt, what you thought, any stray thoughts that crossed your mind would be made clear. That’s why the Society created such stern laws to protect people from Psychics.

This woman trusted me with that. She trusted me with who she was, for good and bad. “Thank you,” I finally said, my mouth dry. “If you think it is best, show me.” Xen nodded as she drew her wand. She sat cross legged, her eyes closed, and both hands resting on the long willow branch that she wrapped around her waist. The tip glowed with a faint purple light. I closed my eyes too as I felt a gentle presence pressing in on my mind. Taking a deep breath, I dropped my wards and let it in. I reached out with my own power so it was pressed up against hers. The world seemed to vanish around me as the memory played out.

_ I was walking down the corridor of the Paradise HQ, my mother at my side. We were in no hurry. We had just finished all of the paperwork the guild requires. It was official, Charlie and I were now officially mates.  _

_ I had one hand at my throat as we walked, my fingers unconsciously stroking the silken cyan scarf tied there. My claws occasionally caught on the brilliant golden pin shaped like a willow tree that was stuck in the knot. Both were gifts from my new mate, tokens of mateship. That’s what my mother and I were doing. I had to find Charlie some matching tokens. Perhaps he would like a scarf as well? Or maybe a golden amulet on a silken blue cord.  _

_ “What’s your rush dear?” mother asked. I hadn’t realized it, but I had sped up to almost a jog as I pondered and my mother, bless her heart, was barely keeping place. _

_ “Sorry mother,” I said sheepishly as I dropped back to a more comfortable speed, “I’m just so excited. Part of me wants to get this shopping done as quickly as possible so we can go find Charlie and dad.” _

_ “They aren’t expecting us for another three hours love,” mother wheezed. A surge of guilt shot through my gut as she spoke. She certainly wasn’t as young as she once was. “We might as well take as much time as we need. You want to get the perfect token for your Charlie, right?” _

_ I stopped in my tracks. “Of course mother. You are right.” I turned to face her. “But first, maybe you should sit down for a moment. You don’t look good.” _

_ “Just exerted myself a bit too much,” mother said waving her hand. Still she sat down on one of the simple wooden benches that lined the hall. “I’m fine, I just need a moment.” _

_ She leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes. I settled down next to her, although a small, selfish voice in the back of my head was impatiently goading me to hurry to the market. Despite its insistence, I did my best to ignore it. I couldn’t simply leave mother behind.  _

_ “You look beautiful Xen dear,” mother said, her eyes still closed. “I am so proud of you. So is your father.” _

_ “Thank you mom,” I replied with a smile. “I’m glad you and dad were here to see it.” _

_ “So am I,” mother said. She sat up before fixing me with a smile that never really reached her eyes. Those remained firm and determined. “Before I forget dear, I have a gift for you. Really a gift for your new family.” _

_ I cocked my head at her. She didn’t have a bag, and she certainly was not holding a gift. Still, I decided to humor her. “Thank you mother. Where- I mean - what is it?” _

_ Mother smiled, this time a hint of laughter sparkled in her eyes. She reached down to her hip, her fingers digging into the pocket of fur normally occupied by her wand. Instead of the short, knobby length of Black Walnut, she drew out a small cloth-wrapped bundle.  _

_ “The male who gave this to me asked me to pass it on once you were mated. He told me that you should also pass it on to your son or daughter when they eventually are mated.” As she spoke, she was slowly unwrapping the bundle, whatever it was.  _

_ “This item is a safety net as it were. The Delphox who gave it to me called it such. He said that one day a Fennekin would come, and they would desperately need this item. He told me that until such a time arrives, I was to keep it safe.” _

_ The object was finally uncovered right as she finished speaking. A shard of impossibly clear crystal sat in the bundle of cloth. It looked a bit like a Tauros horn, the way that it curved and tapered. One side of it though was covered in sharp protrusions that “flowed” out of the main body. I reached out to pick up the thing, but mother drew back as I neared. “It has a bit of a bite,” mother explained, “best you leave it be.” _

_ “Will this Fennekin be of our line? Is that why we were given it?” I asked. Staring at the thing warily. I wasn’t sure what to make of any of this. _

_ Mother shrugged. “He didn’t say. I don’t think he knew. Still he did tell me two things that I will now pass on to you.” I was completely enraptured at this point. I barely even noticed as mother transferred the bundle into my paws and wrapped it back up. “This shard is one of four that will open a Dream Dungeon. Within that Dungeon the Fennekin will find a temple which houses the Dreamstone. The four crystal keys are the only way to use the stone.” _

_ I stared at her, waiting for more, but she remained silent. “Is that it? Where is this Dream Dungeon? Where are the other three keys? Why-?” _

_ “Xen, calm yourself,” my mother said her hand on my cheek. “Xen you aren’t the Fennekin. Why are you so worried? It could be centuries before the Fennekin will need the keys. Don’t dwell on things you may never know. You need only pass it on when the time comes.” _

The image faded from my mind as Xen pulled away. “That was all she told me. For the rest of her life she only ever made passing references to her ‘gift’, simply making sure I still had it.”

The older Delphox shifted on her chair, idlily twirling her wand between her palms. I shifted as well so that I was closer to Eve. I could see into my bag where it sat open on the floor. The slight glint of light glittering off of the “keys” holding my attention.

“When Ashley got taken…” Xen’s voice trembled softly. “I didn’t even think of the shard. It was only once we had gotten here that I remembered my mother’s words.  _ This item is a safety net as it were.  _ For the briefest moment, I found hope that these keys and this Dreamstone might be able to help my daughter. But when I looked I realized that the Hatred had taken it too.”

That made my decision far easier. At first I attempted to levitate the shard out of my bag, forgetting that Psychic didn’t work on the crystals. I got up digging through my bag and placing the shard on the table between us. “This is your shard right?” I asked as Xen fixated on it.

Xen regarded me for a moment before reaching out and prodding the crystal towards me with her wand. “It  _ was  _ mine. I don’t believe so anymore. Perhaps I am wrong, but I believe that you are the Fennekin my mother and grandfather talked about. I’m guessing you are already searching for the Dreamstone, right? If so, I wish you luck on your quest.”

My mouth was dry as I took the crystal back. “Thank you,” I gasped as the full weight of her words hit me. 

“No Slink, thank you,” the Delphox said smiling at me. Tentatively she reached out and placed her paw on top of my head between my ears. I shivered slightly, my mother used to do the same thing. “Tonight you gave me everything. This story is so little compared to how much I owe you. If you need anything else, if you ever need help, I will be there. You can count on it.”

* * *

Eve and I were curled up back to back under an old desk hidden in the depths of the Library. An old, handwritten tome lay open in front of me while Eve had two immaculately printed and annotated maps spread in front of her. We had built this nest only a few days after returning to the Fire Continent and had spent nearly every waking hour here. 

Our conversation with Xen had opened up a whole new avenue of questions. Her story had given us some answers, but like everything else on this Arceus-damn search it just lead to more and more questions. Where could I even start? Who was the Delphox? What did he mean about the Dreamstone being a fail-safe? How’d he know a Fennekin was going to need it? Was that me? Trying to focus on all of these questions would have left me sobbing in a corner, so I decided to focus on one at a time. 

Who was that Delphox? For this question I had at least a lot to go on. According to Xen’s grandmother, the Delphox in question had been an esteemed member of the Expedition Society, or at least esteemed enough to be their representative to the Decennial Council. Still that had to have been over seventy years ago. The Expedition Society kept meticulous records of course, but after getting the dusty old tomes I discovered that the Expedition Society had employed over a dozen Delphoxes over the past fifty years, and that was on the Water Continent alone. So far I had found eight different candidates, but I still had three tomes and nearly forty years of history to still go through.

On the other hand, Eve was covering the other lead I had gotten. Surprisingly it hadn’t come from Xen, but from Shane. Now that I knew for certain that the Hatred was searching for the Dreamstone, I had Eve searching for the “Dream Dungeon” Xen had mentioned. Eve and I had narrowed down the location already to the Water, Fire, and Mist Continents. In Shane’s office however he had eliminated the Sand, Air, and most importantly the Fire Continent. Still, that left Eve with two Continents to scour.

All of it was monotonous work, but being snuggled up in a forgotten corner of the library with your partner did make the work more tolerable. That and what we were avoiding. Since we had gone to take Ashley home, things had gotten a bit… tense. Vix would never admit it, at least to anyone but me, but according to Sierra Vix had had nightmares every night we were gone. Abby had at least stepped up in our absence and had done everything she could to help comfort her friend. Some mornings Sierra would wake up to find Abby curled around Vix; the Vulpix clinging desperately to her friend in sleep. Of course neither girl got much sleep during that time, and that specifically didn’t help Vix’s already poor mood or her frayed nerves. I know Sierra was just trying to help, but I also know that Vix wouldn’t have accepted his help even if she was in the mood for it. According to Gregory the resulting shouting match was loud enough that it could be heard on the street outside. It had sent Abby running to the library where it took Kegan and Candice several hours to extract her from under Dimitri’s desk.

When we arrived home, Vix had asked to sleep in the extra bed in our room. She claimed that it made her feel safer and lessened the nightmares. Really, I knew it was almost certainly to get away from Sierra, especially since the frequency of the nightmares seemed consistent. Sometimes I would roll over at night and see her; her face twisted into a scowl, her feet kicking out instinctively as whimpers were torn from her throat. 

It didn’t help that she wouldn’t let Eve or me into her head. I’m certain either of us could have fixed things in a second, but she wouldn’t even talk to us about the nightmares, much less let us inside to help out. Eventually Eve figured out a loophole where we could push thoughts into Vix’s mind while she was sleeping to potentially refocus her mind. It didn’t always work, but it helped to feel like I could do  _ something _ . 

It wasn’t even like we could go off on missions or anything to get our minds off of things or give the two some distance. The Hatred still hadn’t been sighted, even four weeks after the raid. Kegan refused to let any of our team out of the city limits until they were located. It was fair to say that most of us were going stir crazy. 

Thankfully Vix chose to come with us each day to HQ. I am certain that was the only reason why Sierra and Abby were still living with us. Of course Vix could only spend so much time in the library before getting bored, an hour and ten minutes to be exact. Thankfully Kegan was quick to start her on her own task. The two had spent the past couple of weeks drafting a map of the Hatred base. Vix was the only Pokémon on the planet (outside of the Hatred) who had seen the whole thing, and an asset like that would be invaluable if the Society ever managed to locate the Hatred base again. 

But for the moment I was just focused on the mouldering book in front of me. Although at this point I could barely focus on the handwritten records before me. “Ampharos, Mawile, Buizel, Dedenne, Riolu…” blah, blah, blah. Uggh.

I rolled over, resting my chin on Eve’s back and watching over her shoulder as she worked. I definitely couldn’t have stayed focused for as long as she had. It looked as though she was staring off into space. In all actuality she was regarding a pair of maps that we had stuck to the underside of the desk that charted known ley line locations across the two continents we were interested in. 

I opened my mouth to ask Eve a question but before I could even draw breath, her tail came up with one of the prongs directly over my mouth. Eve’s attention quickly shot from the charts overhead, to the maps, to the book of recorded Dungeons that lay open by her feet, before a quill sprung up from the next desk over and circled a point in the mountainous region of the Mist Continent, just north of Post town. That made for a grand total of… thirty possible locations of the Dream Dungeon across both maps. Damn, we were never gonna find this thing. 

Eve quickly returned the quill to the desk before turning to regard me. She smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Can I help you?” 

I grinned up at her, “I was just gonna ask, what makes you choose a Dungeon as a possible location?” 

The Espeon shrugged, “There are a few things. I check how many ley lines it has. I figure the one for the Dreamstone must be pretty powerful. At  _ least  _ three ley lines. Then I look at these reports, see if the whole Dungeon had been explored, or if there were any anomalies or alternate routes in there. These thirty are the only ones that meet those expectations.” Suddenly the quill was there. It quickly scratched out two Xs on the maps: a small coastal mountain on the Water Continent, and a point just West of a giant Glacier on the Mist Continent. “I just hope that it isn’t one of these places. The Society and the Paradise have deemed them off limits. Instant Outlaw status to anyone who sets foot in them, with the highest bounty allowable.” She huffed in frustration. “With our usual luck that is almost certainly where the Dreamstone is.”

I shrugged, dragging my chin up her back so that I could meet her eyes. “Well, we have thirty others to check before we get there right?” I rolled over onto my back, batting my paws at the ley charts on the roof of our fort. “I think I’ve reached my limit of focus today. What time is it anyway?” 

The Espeon rolled her eyes at me, before pulling the Expedition Gadget to her. “Huh, nearly six. We should probably get going. Vix is probably bored out of her mind by now” 

I quickly rolled over onto my belly. I stretched forward, feeling the blood rush back into my hindpaws. I hadn’t even known they were asleep. Paper crackled as Eve carefully folded up her maps before tucking them into my logbook to mark my place. She rose too, butting her head against my shoulder playfully as she stretched her back legs. 

Our bags were laying against the base of a shelf just a few feet away. Trying to be nice, I went over to grab them both while Eve continued to pack up. What I didn’t expect was to find Dimitri hulking over the desk, his purple eye staring directly at me. I yelped and shot back under the desk, ducking behind Eve. To be fair, I was still a bit on edge from the whole kidnapping deal. Eve poked her head out from under the desk, and smiled. “Hey Dimitri. Were you waiting for us?”

Dimitri’s eye turned yellow as he nodded. He pointed back towards the main desk as a familiar voice rang from the stacks. “Dimitri, have you found them yet?” Vix called. She turned the corner and then stopped as she saw the big tree. She glanced under the desk, grinning at Eve and me. “There you are. Nice place you got there.” She straightened up and turned around. “Kegan needs to talk to you guys,” she called over her shoulder. “You should hurry up so we can get home.”

I made to follow her, but Dimitri gave a small hop so that he was directly in my way. I raised an eyebrow at him, but before I could ask he had gently picked me up and settled me on his shoulder. Before I really had a good grip, he bent down again to get Eve. I dug my claws into the soft wood of Dimitri’s shoulder so I wouldn’t fall off. To be fair though, the Trevnant didn’t even seem to notice. He set Eve on his opposite shoulder and then took off, only stopping to scoop up Vix as we shot by.

Sooner than I thought possible, we had arrived at Kegan’s office. I had always thought that the desk Kegan was always behind was his “office” but no. Whenever he wasn’t manning the front desk, he was in his office located beneath the building’s main staircase. I would never have noticed the innocuous door had Dimitri not set us down right in front of it. The lumbering tree carefully stepped around us and knocked firmly on the door..

“Come in please,” Kegan’s voice barely carried through the door. Vix shrugged and shouldered open the door. 

“Was literally just in here,” she muttered under her breath, “don’t know why I suddenly need permission to go in.” 

The place was surprisingly roomy considering it was squeezed under the stairs. The ceiling was sloped; probably twice Dimitri’s height on one end, and just taller than Kegan at the other. Bookshelves lined the room on the short end, most of them filled with scrolls, maps, and logbooks. Everything one might need to run this chapter of the Society. A large desk sat along the back wall facing the door. At the moment it was covered in all sorts of papers and almost half a dozen broken quills. On the wall behind the desk Kegan’s grey-leather bag hung on a hook next to a large painting of him, Dimitri, and Candice standing in front of the guild with their arms around each other. That seemed to be the only personal decoration though. A shorter, circular table filled another section of the room. On it were several rolls of parchment that seemed to be the fruits of Vix’s labors in recreating the Hatred’s base. Next to them sat a single silver spoon that seemed to glow with an odd inner light. 

Looking back I could never remember Kegan using this item usually associated with his species before. I had never thought about it.

Speaking of the Kedabra, he was sitting at the smaller table carefully tracing over the latest map with ink. He looked up as we entered before placing his quill down on the table. “Team Mindfire. Thanks for coming. This will only be a minute.” He stood carefully bringing the map he had been working on with him, rolling it carefully into a tight scroll. As he walked to his shelves to put the new document away, I felt a pulse of Psychic from him. The lights in the room slowly faded as a strange device sprouted from the mapping table. Kegan approached, tapping at the screen of his Expedition Gadget before he inserted it into a small slot on top of the device. Immediately the whole thing whirred to life. The wall across from us started to hum before the whole thing lit up with a flickering blue light.

It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at, especially as the image moved, but eventually I realized that it was the Nexus, only it was being projected onto a flat wall. The image shifted slowly, mirroring the rotation of the globe in the library. Still it was impressive. 

“Just a few minutes ago, I got a report from one of our flying teams.” Kegan said as he rested his hand on the Connection Orb that stuck out of the odd projector. He tapped it a few times before rolling the crystal sphere under his palm. The map corresponded accordingly as it focused in on the Fire continent, then zoomed in on the Reshiram Cape to the south. A small red dot flashed on the far side of the Mountain range that bisected the land. “Team Iron Feather reported seeing a group of three Pokemon, all shiny, at this location earlier today. They approached the group peacefully, however the  Zebstrika among the group started raining thunderbolts down on Team IronFeather. By the time the team made it to the ground safely, the shinies had gone.”

“Are you saying what I think you are saying?” Eve asked excitedly. Meanwhile, a pit of dread was growing in my stomach. 

Kegan grinned. “We have our first Hatred sighting. No doubt about it. Now based on where we saw them I am certain that their base has somehow migrated South. There is no way they could have gotten where they were without us seeing them if they were situated further north than, well, here.” He tapped the green sphere on his Expedition Gadget, and suddenly a dark red line shot across the map, just south of where Lapras Port was. “Because of this, I will allow your team to leave town on work. However for safety reasons I insist that your work takes you North of Festive Town.”

“Yes,” Eve cheered excitedly while a pit grew in my stomach. Thankfully Eve was so excited that she didn’t even notice my lack of enthusiasm at the news. Surprisingly though I wasn’t the only one underwhelmed by the news. I had expected Vix to be excited, or at the very least happy, but she simply stood there with a scowl across her face.

“Thanks for telling us Kegan. Sierra and Abby will be so happy when we tell them. Speaking of which,” she turned back to me and Vix. I barely managed to fix a smile onto my face, “we need to get home. Sierra probably has dinner on the table by now.”

“Then let’s go. Thanks Kegan.” I said already headed toward the door. 

“Eve, I expect full travel plans plugged into the Nexus tomorrow.” Kegan called after us as he sat down at his desk with a sigh.

As we opened the door to the apartment, we were met with the sweet sound of screeching metal. Abby was on the couch, her paws pressed firmly over her ears and her eyes screwed shut. Meanwhile Sierra was standing on the counter,clumsily scraping at the stovetop with his claws. 

“Sierra? What the hell are you doing?” Eve shouted across the room. Her voice sounded stern, but the look on her face was trapped somewhere between disapproving and holding back laughter. 

The Absol looked up suddenly, his wide eyes making him look like an Espurr. “The stove broke.” He said as if that explained everything.

“Yeah,” Eve said, “there is an Absol tearing it apart.”

Sierra’s cheeks flushed. “It wasn’t me. The thing that lights the burners is broken. I think it fell into the top. I’m trying to fix it, but…” he held up his paw, flexing the claw-like digits. “I’m not exactly built for this.”

“And that is why  _ we  _ don’t try to do that.” Eve sighed in exasperation. “Why didn’t you call Gregory? I’m certain he could have come and fixed it.”

“As a matter of fact, I did call him.” Sierra argued. “He isn't here though. He’s visiting family near Lapras Port. The Pokemon I talked to said he would be back tomorrow. Doesn’t help me for tonight though.”

Despite how much I was enjoying the argument, I decided it was time to break it up. “Guys, it’s fine. Sierra just leave it for tonight. Kegan just cleared us to do a mission tomorrow. We can leave our key on Gregory’s desk tomorrow morning and he can come figure it out while we are gone.”

“We’re clear for missions again?” Sierra asked, his tail wagging slightly behind him. “Oh, thank Arceus I’ve been so bored.” He shook his head. “Sure that works, but what are we doing for dinner tonight?”

“Seriously boys, this shouldn’t be so hard,” Eve rolled her eyes, “Slink and I can go grab something for tonight. It really is no big deal.”

“Actually,” Sierra said sheepishly, “I’d already fixed most of the meal when I found out the burner wouldn’t light. Other than the part I have to heat, everything is done, and I’m not sure it will keep for the next couple of days.”

“Dad.” Abby butted in suddenly. I didn’t know she was even listening to be honest. “Didn’t you say that the sparker is the only bit broken?” Sierra nodded. “You have two Fire Types here. Can’t they light it, at least for tonight?”

All three of us “adults” stood there in silence for a moment. Eve and I weren’t currently connected, and neither of us could connect with Sierra, but I knew we were all thinking the same thing.  _ How come I didn’t think of that? _

“That’s brilliant Abs,” Sierra said. “Er, Vix would you be willing to...?”

“No,” she said simply before heading towards our room. “Hey  _ Abs _ since we have a while before dinner will be ready, want to play a game?”

I huffed to myself as the pair ran off. This feud between Sierra and Vix was simply exhausting. Then I realized that Eve and Sierra were now staring at me. “I guess that means you’re up Slink.” Eve said gesturing towards the stove. 

“Yeah,” I said sheepishly. I was feeling pretty cool, so I knew I needed to push myself into Fire before I could do anything. I took a few deep breaths, but nothing was happening. Most of the time, that was all it took to get Fire. I tried focusing on my frustration towards Sierra and Vix. This time though, I swear I got colder, not warmer. 

My head pounded as I concentrated. Anger. Fear, Rage, Passion. My heart started pounding, and my breath started coming in short gasps but finally, I could feel myself growing warmer. Then, just as I felt myself pass into Fire, two images flashed through my head: Stanley holding Vix by her neck, and Stanley, a charred husk on the ground, with claw and teeth marks marring his melted flesh.

A chill shrouded my body, sinking deep into my bones as I snapped back to Psychic. Belatedly, I tried to use my Fire. Instead of the ember or spark that they expected, Eve and Sierra were both caught off guard by the blast of Psychic. Obviously it didn’t do anything to Sierra, but Eve was caught up in it, the blast throwing her into the wall.

“Eve!” I rushed forward. “Are you okay? Arceus, I’m sorry.” 

She waved me off with her tail as she got shakily to her feet. “I’m fine. Just a tad surprised.”

“What the hell was that?” Sierra said echoing the thought that I’m sure Eve was thinking but was too polite to say.

I blushed tucking my ears and ducking my head. “Sorry. I don’t know what happened. I can try again…” but just as the concept of Fire entered my head, my stomach seized up. Without another word I sprinted to the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. Thankfully I didn’t throw up, but I stayed in there for a while, curled up on the floor and trying to calm my breathing.

“Slink?” Eve’s gentle voice rang through the door. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yes. I think I am.” I croaked back. 

The handle rattled as Eve tried it. I was secretly glad that I had locked the door. I just needed to be alone for a minute. She could have Psychically unlocked the door, but she let it be. “Are you sure you are okay? Are you sick? We don’t have to do anything tomorrow if you’re-”

“I’m fine,” I snapped. Slowly I sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “Sorry. I really am fine, I just need a minute.”

Eve didn’t say another word. She simply padded away. I think I was only there on the floor for another ten minutes, but it felt like hours. When I left the bathroom, dinner was ready, and everyone was sitting at the table waiting. 

The rest of the night things were a bit tense. At least around me. I think the rest of them were nervous about what might set me off again. Hell, I wasn’t even sure what had happened. Throughout dinner, I kept catching Eve staring at me with concern etched into her face. Every time I met her gaze it seemed like she wanted to say something, but each time she simply looked away. I could feel her mind buzzing, and I knew something was coming. 

Later that night, after even Vix had sunk into an unfortunately still fitful sleep, Eve decided it was time to talk. Without any sort of warning she had stood up from our normal sleeping position, turned around, and settled down again facing me. Our noses were barely an inch from each other, and I could see what little moonlight that filtered in through the window reflected in her eyes.

“Slink, I know you said you are okay, but…” she trailed off. “Look I have to ask before we head out tomorrow. Before you… uh… in Kegan’s office you didn’t exactly look excited and…”

She paused, her eyes closed, as she sucked in a deep breath. “I know you don’t really want to go tomorrow. I have to know, is it because of the Hatred?”

My hesitation wasn’t even intentional. In all honesty I hadn’t even considered that. “That’s part of it. A little bit I guess. Kegan says we should be safe, and I trust him, but that nagging voice in the back of my head keeps reminding me how close we came to disaster. Part of me never wants to risk it again.” I saw Eve was about to say something, so I rushed to cut her off. “But I’m good to go. I’m not that...afraid.”

Eve gave a half smile, half grimace. “You don’t have to,” she whispered. She shifted just a little bit closer to me. “You said that was only part of it. What’s the other part?”

I shrugged trying to dismiss it. “Nothing, I just… We’ve made so much progress in the last couple of weeks. It feels like we are so close to finding an answer on the Dreamstone. I just don’t want to quit while we are so close.” I shrugged again. “It’s selfish and stupid.”

“Yeah it is, but I don’t blame you.” She licked my nose. “Let’s do this job, and then we can spend all weekend in the Library. I think I have the Dungeon narrowed down as far as I can at this point. I can help you out with the records when we get back.”

“Yeah,” I grumbled, “when we get back.” 

Eve wiggled closer so her head was tucked under my chin. “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it. Come on, I can promise you that you won’t be kidnapped again.” I know she was just trying to make me feel better, but at the same time she really shouldn’t have tempted fate like that.

* * *

“Uggh, where are we going, the moon?” Sierra grumbled as we mounted what felt like the hundreth switchback on the mountain slope. Above us the sky was entirely grey. Behind us, to the West, a monstrous, early-winter storm was gathering. 

“Didn’t your species originate in the mountains of the Mist Continent?” Eve called back. “You were literally built to climb mountains.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Sierra muttered. “And that doesn’t mean that I enjoy  _ running  _ up mountains either.”

“Are you guys sure we are safe up here,” Abby whimpered, her gaze fixed on the oncoming storm. As she spoke she lifted a foreleg, pressing her paw firmly to the base of her horn.

Eve glanced at the clouds, biting her lip. “From what I was told this Dungeon has plenty of tree cover, and there are several places where it intersects a couple of cave systems. Besides, I doubt it’ll take us more than an hour to get through. The Pokemon we’re looking for should only be a floor or two in. We’ll be long gone before this storm hits. 

“Eve,” Vix called weakly. I think we all glanced back to where the Vulpix was trotting along at the back of the pack. She had barely gotten any sleep last night, and with the pace we were going I’m impressed that she was still even moving. “Can we please slow down a little?”

“I’m sorry guys, but we can’t afford to waste any time. We can rest for a moment when we get to the Dungeon, but until then just hang on.” Eve was trying to be sympathetic, but there was a note of urgency in her voice.

“Eve, at least slow down a little.” I suggested. Mentally I added,  _ I’m not sure how much longer Vix can go. We’ll take even longer if we exhaust her before we even get to the Dungeon. _

I could feel Eve thinking before she begrudgingly paused, letting Vix catch her breath.. “Fine. We are almost at the top anyway.” When we set off again, it was at a much slower pace. 

I glanced back at the Vulpix. Her ears and tails drooped, the dark circles under her eyes only highlighting her unfocused gaze. She only really seemed to focus whenever the path doubled back on itself, but then she just seemed to follow after Abby mechanically.

I stopped suddenly, squeezing near the wall and waving Sierra and Abby past. The road was too thin for Vix and I to safely walk side by side, so I followed just behind her. “You okay?”

“Huh,” Vix muttered blearily. Her posture straightened as she realized what I had asked. “Er, yeah… I’m fine… just... uh… ti-tired.” 

Of course I had guessed that much. I wasn’t quite sure how to phrase this next part. “Vix this mission is urgent. Are you… will you be able to focus enough to get us through this Dungeon quickly?”

Vix was silent for a while, to the point where I was afraid that she had zoned out. “I think so. I just… I just need… Slink do you have any Chesto berries or something?”

I glanced into my bag rooting around for the yellow and blue berries. “Um… yes! Here.” Vix scarfed down the berry as soon as I handed it to her. I offered her a second one and she stuffed it into her mouth barely even chewing the thing. “The nightmares are still getting to you huh?”

“What was your first clue?” she grumbled under her breath. 

“You want to talk about them? Maybe that will make things better?” 

“No,” Vix answered immediately. “I-I- I can’t. I can’t talk about it. Not with you. Or Eve.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, and before I had any time to think about it the path we were on leveled out as we reached a triangular meadow between three of the mountain peaks. Eve led us far enough into the meadow so that we were at least away from the sheer cliff we had just climbed before finally allowing us to rest. Vix almost immediately collapsed. Abby flopped close by her, occasionally pressing her paw to the base of her horn. Sierra sat back on his haunches and panted heavily.

Eve grimaced as she saw the state of the team, although we weren’t any better considering the two of us were breathing heavier from the exertion. She pulled her canteen out of her bag and after taking a long sip she handed it to Sierra. I followed her lead, passing my water off to Vix. “Guess we are a bit out of practice adventuring, huh.” I said trying to lighten the mood.

We rested for a few minutes but the rest felt all too short as Eve decided that we were all sufficiently refreshed from our hike. She gathered her bag together before prepping us for the job ahead. “Alright you guys. Remember we are looking for…” she glanced at the expedition Gadget, “a Mightyena. They are almost certainly stuck or lost, and by Kegan’s best guess they are on one of the first three floors. Since they are a Dark Type, Slink and I won’t be able to sense him, so we may have to thoroughly search each floor. I don’t think we should spit up just in case the Mightyena is pinned down by ferals. Vix, you good to go?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” The Vulpix said. The Chesto berries thankfully seemed to be having an effect. She seemed more focused, and she now held her ears and tails in her normal stance. Still she had dark bags under her eyes, and her brown eyes themselves were bloodshot. I trusted that Vix would be fine, but I was still worried.

It was then that Abby’s behavior caught my eye. She had her chin pressed to the ground with both of her paws scratching at the top of her head near her horn. “Abby? Abigail? Are you okay?” Sierra got to his feet and lept to the aid of his daughter. “Is it the storm Abs?”

“Yeah,” Abby grunted between scratches. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this high during a storm. My horn is killing me!” 

“Are you okay?” Eve asked staring at the two Absol. 

Sierra looked up at Eve and nodded. “She’s fine. We’re Absol you know. Disaster Pokemon and all that. Whenever there’s an impending storm or earthquake or something our horns will start to tingle. The more potential danger to us and those around us, the worse, and more painful it gets.” I didn’t notice it before he brought it up, but Sierra too would occasionally grimace, his paw twitching as he forced himself to not touch his horn. “I’m certain we’ll be fine,” Sierra said in response to the growing look of concern on Eve’s face, “my horn isn’t bothering me too much. Abigail just hasn’t been this near too many storms.”

“Okay then,” Eve said nervously. “Are you okay to start moving Abby?”

“Yeah,” Abby nodded, gritting her teeth. “Just give me a second. I didn’t mean to worry you. This is just a bit new to me is all…” she gestured to her horn.

I think we were all a bit on edge as we headed deeper into the meadow. For a while it seemed like we were never going to reach the Dungeon. We just kept getting closer to the Northernmost mountain until we finally passed through the Dungeon’s boundary. Vix immediately shifted into her lead position as Navigator as we trudged into the Dungeon.

Searching each floor was so tedious. Dungeon’s weren’t really built to be Navigated this way. Several times we had to double back from dead ends or endlessly looping paths. I could tell Vix was frustrated, especially since she had gotten used to getting to the end of Dungeons as quickly as possible. Plus her exhaustion added to the struggle with how often she hesitated at any crossroad. We were on the floor for nearly twenty minutes before Vix led us to the portal.

Speaking of the portal, this was the first Dungeon we had ever been in that combined different environments. So while the first floor was the same evergreen forest as the mountains we had passed through, the portal was tucked next to the mountain under a small overhang of stone. When we landed on the next floor we were surprised to find ourselves in a cathedral like cavern. High above we could see grey light filtering in from outside. That didn’t mean the caverns were dark, most if not all of the rooms had some crack or hole in the ceiling letting in some light, meanwhile the rooms and corridors were filled with the glow of dozens of species of bioluminescent fungi.

We had never been in a cave Dungeon before either. Honestly, if we hadn’t been in such a hurry I don’t think any of us would have minded taking more time examining the various rock formations and mushrooms. There were a few formations we couldn’t ignore though. There was a huge column, stretching nearly twenty feet from floor to ceiling, the stone nearly a foot in diameter. Later on we found a small alcove where the stone was blood-red. A formation of Firestones added a cheerful orange glow to the small space, making the walls seem to shift and breathe. 

Even with these diversions we spent more than twice the amount of time on this floor than the last, although I’m not sure that was purposeful. There were several times when Vix hesitated at crossroads. Occasionally she would look around for almost a minute before deciding on a course.

“Caves are weird,” she grumbled when I asked her about it. She nodded up towards the ceiling, or more precisely the almost perfectly circular hole in the ceiling. Through it I could see that the cavern went on another six feet or so before becoming solid rock. Between stalactites and stalagmites I could just see an alcove that seemed to go on for at least a few feet. “This place is far more… three dimensional I guess than I’m used to. If you went up there and took the path to the north, you would reach a chamber that is right above the portal, and to the south there is an underground lake. If we were looking for a flying type in here we would have twice the area to search.”

Unfortunately the trapped Mightyena wasn’t on the second floor. If that wasn’t enough, the third floor was a bit...problematic. I landed on the floor, took three steps, and walked directly into a Spinarak strand. I jumped nearly a foot in the air as I dragged my paws across my face attempting to dislodge the sticky thread from my fur. A shiver ran down my spine as I forced myself to settle down, and my heart started pounding as I heard the scuttling of little arachnid feet against stone. Glancing up I just caught the tail end of a Spinarak as it scurried into the cavern above the room. I scrambled backwards nervously, an almost instinctual panic driving me back.

“Slink!” Eve’s shout of surprise mixed with my yelp she appeared in the air directly above me. “ What are you doing?”

I scrambled away from her, but I didn’t go far. Instead of looking at her, my head was constantly on a swivel as I frantically searched around for any other Spinnarark or Ariados. “Slink, are you okay?” Eve asked, her annoyance turning to concern. 

“Yeah,” I’m… I glanced around. “You know how you feel about snakes? That is about how I feel about spiders.”

“But you talk to that Galvantula down the hall all the time.” Eve said.

“I don’t mind them in and of themselves,” I muttered, jumping slightly as I heard more scuttling feet. “I don’t like them when they are attacking me.”

Eve gave me a half smile. “Well then I guess it’s time to repay you for the Ekans situation.” She stepped closer to me, rubbing against my side.

Despite everything I had to laugh. “Even after nearly a year and a half, we’re still not even for that?”

At least she cheered me up, and I certainly needed that. Because feral Pokemon had completely taken over the floor. 

Every stone surface was covered in sticky webbing. In the larger caverns large sections were completely blocked off by large dome like structures, while the walls and ceilings of the corridors were so thick with webs that Sierra could barely make it through. There were several areas where Abby had to cut Sierra free or vice-versa. The worst for me though were the creatures. For the whole journey across the floor my skin itched and crawled. I could feel their beady, black eyes staring at me out of the shadows. Whenever we actually found one we all froze as the feral just sat there, watching us. Inevitably they would simply turn around and vanish deeper into the Dungeon.

The floor was smaller than the others, in that there were very few places to look. Vix warned us that most of the floor was occupied by a gigantic room that also happened to contain the portal. She didn’t say, but she didn’t need to, that all of the retreating Spinarak we encountered were headed towards that main room. Sooner or later we would have to go there. 

As we approached the room, we heard what sounded like a raging river. It was a constant angry drone full of the scratch of claws against stone, and hundreds of tiny legs rubbing against one another. I felt my hackles raise as the noise got louder, almost seeming to come from within my chest.

Vix turned the final corner and froze. We fanned out around her in the mouth of the cavern, but were met with an impenetrable wall of darkness. Vix took a single step forward, a soft orange glow appearing around her body. “What could possibly go wrong?” she muttered to herself. She half glanced back at us. “Are you ready?”

She took a deep breath before throwing her head back, a ball of fire exploding from her muzzle. The flames shot skyward trailing smoke as it arced towards the roof of the massive cavern. The flare of orange light was just enough to illuminate the nightmare we had found ourselves in. The room was filled with a lattice of spiderwebs, the sticky threads stuck to the walls, the floor, the ceiling, turning the room into a labyrinth. In the back corner of the room, most of the thick strands converged on a huge dome-like structure.

The flickering firelight also revealed what looked like hundreds of Spinarak covering the system of webs. Some seemed asleep, their eyes closed. Some were simply going about their duty, crawling along the three dimensional walkways every which way carrying berries, twigs, glowing mushrooms, and suspicious chunks of...stuff. Plenty of the giant spiders were focused on us. As the light briefly illuminated them, they shivered on their webs staring at us and snapping their mandibles excitedly. Even when Vix’s flames eventually flickered out, we could still feel their gazes focused on us, as well as the continued rustle of thousands of tiny spider legs.

“Wait, guys, did you see that?” Abby whimpered softly.

“What? The spiders?” Vix hissed. “No I didn’t notice.”

“No,” Abby huffed, “there was a...bundle. It was right near the big dome. Vix can you give us another light?”

“Let’s not unless we have to,” I muttered. “I don’t want to provoke the creepy crawlies into attacking.” I thought for a moment. “Vix can you light up your tails, just enough that we don’t run into anything?”

There was a soft rustle as Vix shifted beside me in the near darkness, then a faint red glow appeared. The tiny point of light spread out until I could just make out the outlines of my Team. “How’s that?” Vix muttered as she swung her tails around her. Her fur was glowing from the heat, tiny red flickers of flame occasionally sparking up. Moving slowly, one step at a time, Vix led the way into the cavern. Her ears were perked and constantly moving.

Eve and I did what we could to help. At first we tried to Psychically keep track of any attackers, but the sheer amount of chaotic thoughts all around us nearly made me pass out. Instead we set up a five foot radius from the group where we could feel whatever came in and out. 

“Guys,” Vix breathed after about a minute of shuffling along, “The portal is directly ahead of us, but I think we are headed towards that big dome.”

_ Thud.  _ We all flinched as we heard the sound of something hitting the floor. My sensitive ears immediately latched onto the sound of tiny feet scuttling against stone, but I couldn’t tell if it was headed towards us, or away. 

Eve and I both spun around, our fur standing on end as something brushed against the edge of our dome. We waited, but nothing else appeared. Again, we felt the slightest flicker as an arachnid leg grazed the circle. A minute passed, another.

“I think we are fine for the moment,” I whispered. My heart jumped as I felt the warning, but I couldn’t move fast enough. In Vix’s faint light I could just see beady, black eyes and long fangs dripping with purple fluid, before the air seemed to come alive around me. A burst of power intercepted the Ariados midair, blowing off one of its legs and flinging it back into the inky darkness. 

Eve stood there, the glow from her gem slowly fading. She met my eyes for a moment and offered me a half-smile. “I think we are even now.”

My heart was pounding in my throat. A shudder ran down my spine, but from there it just got bigger until my entire body was shivering. Ice-water filled my veins, my throat closing. My muscles froze, and I wasn’t sure I was ever going to move again. 

“Slink, you gotta move,” Eve said, her smile gone. The simple contact sent warmth throughout my body. I still couldn’t move, but I could breathe again. “I understand how you feel, but there are other spiders, and if you stay here they will get all of us. You can freak out later, but right now you have to move.”

A pulse of Psychic from Eve cleared my head of the fear, at least temporarily. I gasped in a short breath, before nodding to her. I could feel the terror skulking at the base of my skull, but for the moment I had it under control again.

We made decent progress after that. The party was still moving at a snail’s pace, but we weren’t attacked again. I’m not sure if the spiders didn’t know where we are (that may have just been wishful thinking on my part), or if they were afraid to get near us. Still, I wouldn’t relax until we were through the portal and out of what must have been my personal hell. 

Of course that was the moment I ran right into something. It was a bit larger than me, with a sticky, spongy surface. As my chest impacted it, the surface molded around me. My fur immediately caught on the tackiness of whatever it was, pulling me even further in. At the same time the core was more solid than I expected. At first I believed it was just a rock cocooned in thread. It was probably just an anchor for the network of webbing. As the light came closer however, I realized just how wrong that was.

I was quite literally face to face with another Pokemon. A shiny black nose had wormed its way through the suffocating threads, and beyond the gossamer film I could see two blood-red eyes reflecting the light. And then they moved, focusing on me. 

I may have panicked just a little. “Ahhhh,” I shouted involuntarily. I dug my claws into the rocky floor beneath me as I scrabbled backwards trying to detach myself.  That vine of terror in the back of my mind surged forward, threatening to strangle me once again. Whatever natural glue that coated these threads held strong, yanking painfully on my fur in some places or completely ripping chunks out in others. The red eyes widened in alarm at my struggles, the black snout huffing in either panic or frustration.

“Slink,” a sharp hiss entered my ear, “shut up! You’re attracting attention!”

A large paw clamped itself over my mouth, silky, white fur coating my tongue as my mouth continued to hang open in a silent scream. Sierra ducked his head, using his horn to cut me free of the clinging webs. Slowly my breathing calmed down as I forced down my fear, but across from me the red eyes widened in panic. A strangled whimper seemed to echo endlessly in the mostly silent room.

I wrenched my way free of Sierra as soon as I was cut loose. I spat out all of the shed hair I had accumulated, licking at my foreleg to try to get the taste of his hair out of my mouth. “Slink, what were you shouting about?!” Eve hissed at me.

“I found the client,” I grumbled, pointing. Eve immediately turned to the gift-wrapped Mightyena. 

“Sierra, we have to get them out. Do you think that you can cut through it?”

“Probably not all the way through. Not without a move. And then I’m afraid I might cut a bit too far then.” 

“Uh, guys,” Abby said.

“Vix, perhaps you could burn it away?”

“That’s not a great idea. They would end up a bit...crispier than they might prefer.” 

“Guys,” Abby said, far louder this time.

The sound of scuttling feet slowly grew around us. I turned slowly in a circle, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from in the near blackness. “Vix, I think we need a bit more light here.” The flames that flickered through her fur spread from her tails to her entire body, the color shifting from red to yellow. 

A lump grew in my throat. In the sudden light the swarm of arachnids was revealed. Hundreds of them had made their way to the floor and were scurrying just outside the reaches of the light. None of them seemed brave enough yet, and the whole swarm didn’t realize that we couldn’t take all of them at once. 

The only direction that was clear was directly behind us, because we had reached the giant dome of web. “Change of plans then,” I said to the others. “Sierra, you start cutting the cocoon open. Vix, you get us into the dome. Burn your way through if you need to.” I shivered as I thought about the spiders lurking just outside the firelight. “The rest of us will keep them away.”

And then Arceus must have decided things weren’t bad enough. Without warning, a massive Ariados dropped from the ceiling, its thread detaching as it landed on Abby’s back. Its six tiny legs clamped tightly to her in a vice grip. Thin threads started to appear around the Absol as the spider reared its head back, fangs glowing. 

A pulse of Psychic power filled the room, and a pink nimbus appeared around the Ariados, dragging its head back even further away from Abby’s neck. “Slink,” Eve grunted, “a little help here.” Reaching out with my power I levitated several pebbles littered around me. I layered the power on, creating a sharp purple aura around each stone before I fired them all at incredible speeds towards the spider. The creature gave a pained shriek as it was torn away from Abby, spinning away into the darkness. 

Pain flared in my right hind leg. Looking down I could see one of the Spinaraks plunge its sting into my thigh. In an instant it came face to face with a pissed off Fennekin. Honestly I felt at least a little bad for it as its eyes widened and it started to back away. That didn’t prevent me from launching it into the darkness.

I turned to face Sierra, only to find him frantically slashing away at the cocoon. “Sierra, be careful!”

“Screw being careful,” Sierra growled back. “We need to get out of here!” His horn glowed a brilliant blue-white as an odd wind filled the cavern. Silver sheets of wind exploded from the Absol and started spinning around the cocoon. For a moment all I could see were flying scraps of silk. Eventually it faded, revealing a disheveled Mightyena with several nicks and one large scratch running across their chest and belly. They took a deep shuddering breath before their eyes rolled up into their head and they collapsed. 

“Slink,” Vix shouted, “I got the dome open!”

What were we going to do? The Mightyena was far too large for any of us to carry. In retrospect we all should have just warped out then and there. Honestly the stress made that possibility flee from my mind. I’m certain the others felt the same.

I rushed forward, picking up several scraps of webbing as I went. Thankfully there were still several strands tangled in the Mightyena’s fur and around their limbs. All I really had to do was lengthen the threads already there. A few moments later the Mightyena was in a makeshift harness so that we could drag them out of here. 

I passed the bundle of silk to Sierra. “Get him out of here. We’ll cover you.” He quickly took the threads in his mouth, but then he turned towards Abby. “Trust me, I’ll take care of her. Just go!”

The Absol nodded as he backed up slowly, dragging the unconscious Mightyena along with him. I spun around, keeping my back to him, batting away the dozens of daring Spinarak that challenged me.

It felt like hours, but was actually only about six minutes before we got the all clear. “Slink, Eve, Abs, Sierra is clear. Hurry up.” Vix was hopping from foot to foot in the mouth of the dome. She looked like she wanted to rush forward to help us, but from her sluggish movements I could tell it was all she could do to keep her light. 

The three of us all but sprinted at the portal, but we weren’t even close when five Ariados dropped down landing between us in the portal. One immediately clicked angrily at Vix, advancing on her with its abdomen raised. “Vix, go!” Eve shouted. The Vulpix didn’t think twice, but she didn’t really have a chance. She took one step backwards onto the portal before vanishing.

Immediately the cave faded back into pitch blackness. Thankfully the dome of web was still smouldering, providing the slightest amount of red light. “Slink, we could really use some Fire right now!”

“I’m sure we could,” I replied, my mouth dry. Obviously I couldn’t see Eve, but I knew from experience the exact exasperated expression she was directing at me. “Eve, I am terrified right now. Any other day I would already be on Fire, but I can’t. I don’t know what is happening. Besides,” I muttered to myself, “we don’t necessarily need fire. We just need light.”

“Slink, you better have an idea!” Eve warned, as she moved closer to me. The sound of scuttling legs inched closer and closer to us.

“Eve, can you run while using Future Sight?”

“If you guide me, I guess. Where am I aiming it?”

“Dead ahead. Just a few feet away.” I turned to where I assumed Abby was. “When I say  _ now _ , start running and don’t look back.”

Eve was silent as I felt her gather Psychic power. Once I was certain she had enough, I directed myself at the portal and grabbed Eve’s tail with mine. “NOW!” Eve released the power, her gem flaring to the point where it seemed like the sun had spontaneously appeared in the underground cavern. The result was nearly instantaneous; a grating, unearthly screech filled the room. The creepy-crawlies were all looking at Eve as she unleashed her power, and were blinded. We sprinted towards the portal, knocking the dazed Ariados out of the way. 

We were only half way there when the spiders regained focus, but that was when the actual attack kicked in. A second ball of light, somehow even larger and brighter than the last appeared in the middle of the room, all but incinerating two unlucky Ariados. By the time the swarm had recovered again, we were already gone. 

As we landed on the other side I immediately let go of Eve and turned to face the point where we had come from. I knew that ferals never left their floors, some theories believed that they couldn’t, but I didn’t want to risk it.

The panic faded, replaced by what I can only describe as absolute terror combined with disgust. I froze up again, and my skin seemed to crawl beneath my fur. I could almost feel them, thousands of them crawling beneath my skin. My paws clenched, claws digging long furrows in the soil. My mind was tangled in my own fear, entombed in spiderwebs, trapped. 

“Slink?” I knew I heard the words, but I don’t remember it. The sound couldn’t penetrate my occupied mind. “Slink? Slink?!”  _ Slink! _

That did it. The burt of Psychic contained within that one word snapped me out of it, at least a little. I looked up to find Eve sitting right in front of me. The next thing I knew, my face was buried in her shoulder. She held me as I shuddered, nuzzling me and licking my cheeks. 

“Slink you did amazing in there. We wouldn’t have gotten out of there without you. I’m so proud.” My shaking had stopped, and now I was simply basking in the comforting closeness. “Remember what you told me when I was in this situation?” I could feel her smile. “ Slink I will never let anyone or anything hurt you if I can help it.”

I chuckled, letting out some tension. “I love you too. Jeez, I said that? No wonder Vix started shipping us immediately.” Eve laughed too. “Thanks Eve. Come on, let’s finish this job and go home.” 

I turned around to find Sierra circling Abby, checking her over for injuries. Really he was acting as though he hadn’t seen her in hours instead of just minutes. Abby wore a resigned expression the whole time, shooting a sarcastic grin and eye-roll at where Vix had collapsed.

The Vulpix looked half asleep, even worse than she had this morning. Of course I couldn’t blame her. With the amount of firepower she had used, anyone would be beyond exhausted. “I’m proud of you, you know,” I said softly as I approached. Her ears flicked up at my words, but she didn’t seem like she could even lift her head to acknowledge me. “You did well back there. We couldn’t have done it without you.” Instead of the self-satisfied grin such a compliment would normally have garnered, the Vulpix could only give a tired smile. “You know we finished the job. You could probably go home. I’d give you my set of keys so that you could go take a nap if you want. We’d be right behind you.”

Vix put more effort into her response this time. She lifted her head a few inches and gently shook it. “I’m… I’m good. I want to stay with you guys.” Perhaps it was her exhaustion, but I thought there was a small amount of fear in her voice. “Do you have another Chesto berry? That’ll tide me over until we get home.”

Personally, I would have preferred she go home anyway. Regardless I started looking around in my bag. Wordlessly I handed over my last Chesto. Eve probably had some in her bag that would do for emergencies. I watched Vix closely as she snapped the berry up in two bites.

“Mr. Mightyena,” I heard Eve begin, “are you alright?” I looked around, wondering how I hadn’t noticed the client before then. To be fair, he was sitting apart from the rest of the group awkwardly watching us. Eve had caught him as he was bent nearly double, licking at the scratch Sierra had accidentally given him.

“Er, I’m fine. A bit dehydrated, and my hind legs are asleep after all of that,” he growled. He didn’t seem angry or afraid, that just seemed to be his normal voice. “Thank you for the rescue. The name’s Enzo.” He offered Eve a paw and she quickly took it. I noted with some amusement that he still had a few strands of spider silk attached to his tail.

Next to me I felt Vix tense the instant the Mightyena started talking, and I thought she was going to pass out as his name was stated. “Vix,” I asked nervously glancing between her and Enzo, “what’s wrong? Do you know him?”

“No,” she said hurriedly. “It’s...I felt the... uh... Chesto berry kick in. You know that burst of energy you get?” 

I eyed her. There was certainly something going on, but I didn’t press. Instead I tried to focus in on the conversation Eve was having with Enzo.

“Yes, well,” Eve said matter-of-factly, “I think my team is ready. I’ll send you back to HQ and then we can all be on our way.”

“Wait,” the Mightyena stepped backwards as Eve took her badge in paw, “we’re headed back to Festive Town?” He sounded more disappointed than anything.

“Yes, that is standard procedure once a job is completed,” Eve said patiently, “is that a problem?”

“Yeah, a little. I just left from there this morning. I’m trying to get to Ogon Village. Going back would just set me back another day.”

“Why’d you take this pass?” Vix butted in. “There is one a few miles south of here that is a far weaker Dungeon.” 

Enzo looked like he wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Vulpix. “Er, I...can’t. I...that pass holds some bad memories for me.” He eventually said. “Sorry, I just need to get to the other side of this Dungeon.”

“I guess we could arrange for payment here, and then you can go on your way.” Eve said biting her lip.

Enzo shook his head. “Actually I was hoping you could provide an escort for me. You know, just in case I run into any more...situations.” He ducked his head sheepishly. “I would obviously compensate you for your time and effort of course.”

“I guess that would be okay,” Eve said. She glanced back at us. “Of course I need to confer with my team first.” 

She quickly trotted over to where Vix and I were standing. Abby and Sierra joined us only a moment later. “Vix, how many more floors in this Dungeon?”

“A dozen I think. We’ve got quite a ways to go. Thankfully though there aren’t any more caves.” Vix shrugged. 

I glanced upwards. “We’ll be out in the open. Are we still safe from that?” 

A sudden boom of thunder seemed to punctuate my words. Siarra and Abby both grimaced and touched their horns. “Other than...that,” Sierra grunted, “I think we are mostly fine. I only feel anything when lightning strikes. We should be good, but I’ll try and warn you if it gets worse.”

“I guess...we’ll burn that bridge when we get there.” Eve muttered to herself. I couldn’t help but chuckle. “What?”

“Nothing,” I smiled. That was a turn of phrase I had picked up from my father. Glad to see Eve was also picking it up. 

Shrugging, Eve wandered over to the Mightyena to tell him what we had decided. Abby and Sierra followed only a few steps behind. I stayed behind as Vix got to her feet, still a little groggy. “That mountain pass you suggested Enzo take...isn’t that the one where you were living?”

“Oh, was it,” Vix said, “I just remembered that it was an easier Dungeon than this. Huh,I wonder why he didn’t take it?” She raised an eyebrow at me and then trotted off after the others.

Over the next few floors, Vix suddenly became way more talkative than she had ever been in the past, to the point where she seemed to forget to Navigate. She was constantly asking the Mightyena questions. All seemed innocent, but I could hint a note of Fire behind the majority. “So Enzo, you got a family? Parents? Mate? Kids?”

“Er, no. No parents, and no mate at the moment.” He shrugged. 

I think we all knew that Vix was acting strange. The fact that she was talking to a stranger alone was a giant red flag. Still none of us commented on this odd behavior. It got me to thinking though.

“Oh.” Vix slowed her pace a little. “You didn’t exactly answer the kid part though. So how ‘bout it? Got a son? Daughter?” Her voice was tight as she spoke. Flames flared in her eyes.

“Um...I...er…” he stammered.

“Vix!” Eve scolded. “Sorry Enzo. I can see that is a tough question for you. You don’t have to answer.” The Mightyena nodded nervously, but I could see him eyeing Vix curiously.

That dried up the questioning for a few minutes, especially as Enzo fell back to get some distance from Vix. He fell into step next to me, head hunched slightly. “Sorry about Vix,” I said eventually. “She’s not great around strangers.”

He shrugged. “She’s a kid. They always have so many questions. I’m used to it. So tell me a bit about you guys since…” he glanced up at Vix, “you got to learn so much about me. How’d you all get together?”

“Well, Eve and I are partners. She saved my life and we joined the Society along with Vix more than a year ago. Sierra and Abby joined last year. We helped him rescue his daughter-”

“-From the Hatred?” I shot him a look and he gave me an impish grin. “I don’t mean to assume, but I mean Abby  _ is  _ shiny. Do you guys run into the Hatred often?”

“You could say that,” I muttered. I didn’t think he needed to know how “involved” we were with the Hatred. “Of course they are kinda the bane of the Expedition Society as of late.”

“I get that,” he nodded. “So how are you related to Vix? You never really said how she got involved. She seems to talk to you more than the others.”

“That’s a bit personal,” I muttered. “But at this point, I guess that is a Gengar calling a Mimikyu scary. We’ve always been pretty close since we first found her. A couple weeks ago, I called her my daughter for the first time. I’m not sure how she feels about that or about me.” I blinked, shaking my head. I hadn’t realized how deep I had been digging in my thoughts. Enzo though had frozen, his shoulders hunched. 

“You said you found her… where did you-?”

**_Boom!_ ** “Ahhh,” Abby screamed out as a bolt of lightning clipped the tree directly overhead. We all ducked as splinters of wood rained down, but Abby stumbled and nearly fainted.

“We need to stop,” Sierra called to the rest of us. “Vix, is there anywhere that could be a shelter? A shelf of stone or something? A small den?”

“This way,” Vix said hurriedly, sounding a lot more like herself. She veered right, leading us into a side corridor. This sudden change separated Enzo and me for a few moments. I stared at the Mightyena who seemed to be deep in thought himself. Vix knew this guy, I knew she did. How though? Unless...

This section of the Dungeon must have been really close to the caves. The further along the corridor, the more and more a shelf of rock stretched across until we reached a point where the stone just touched the other side. We had around fifteen feet of corridor that was relatively safe. 

“Sierra,” Eve grumbled as we all got under cover, “do you know if this is gonna pass soon?” 

“I can’t exactly see the future. But from what my horn is telling me, this is gonna get worse before it gets better.”

“Fine,” Eve growled. “Sorry Enzo, I guess we are gonna be stuck here for a while. We are willing to wait for this to pass, but we would also be willing to escort you tomorrow. We could all go back to Festive Town and...uh...Enzo?”

I looked back. Enzo didn’t seem to be listening. He was staring off into space, hard lines etched into his face as he muttered to himself. Too late, I realized that he wasn’t staring blankly, he was staring at Vix. An expression of sudden understanding washed over his face. He moved faster than any of us could have expected, lunging at the Vulpix with claws extended. Eve and I reflexively raised barriers, but he passed through them like they were nothing. In only a second he had two of his claws tangled in the golden wires of Vix’s bracelet. The sound of screeching metal seemed to echo endlessly in our tiny shelter as he tore the bracelet away from her. We all stood frozen as Enzo stood enraptured by Vix’s black ring of fur.

“Vulpix?’ He asked, his voice trembling. 

“Enzo, what the hell..?” Eve sputtered. I didn’t dare move, I didn’t know what to do.

“Little Vixen?” Enzo whined louder. His voice was drenched in desperation. 

“Don’t call me that!” Vix growled. “My name is Vix!”

“Litt- I mean Vix, how are you…” he trailed off, audibly swallowing. “You’re alive,” it came out as a moan of relief. 

“So what do you care,” Vix snapped, blue tounges of flame flickered over her tails and paws. 

Enzo wasn’t put off. “I went looking for you, four months ago. When I got there Rose’s burrow was gone. I thought you were dead.”

“Great,” Vix snapped, “six years later and you finally decide I am worth your time?” 

Sierra stepped forward so he was between the pair. “What the hell is going on?”

“Stay out of this,” Enzo snarled, “this is a family matter!”

“Family?” Eve said, taken aback at both his words and his tone. “Wait...Vix is this guy your father?”

“Yes,” Enzo growled.

“No,” Vix snarled.

“Vix, listen please,” Enzo charged on as if he hadn’t heard the Vulpix. “Just come with me for a little bit and-”

“-Everyone shut up!” For the first time in weeks, I felt some heat as I stepped forward. It was nowhere near Fire, but at least everyone was now silent. I glared at Enzo. “Let’s get this one thing straight. Vix is staying with us.”

“You have no right! I am her father,” Enzo snapped. He stared me up and down. “And no matter what you think, you  _ aren’t!”  _

Eve stepped up beside me. “But we do have custody of her. If you want to dispute that, you can take it up with the Expedition Society.”  _ But there is a Snover’s chance in hell of Kegan giving it over to you _ , she added mentally.

I could feel Enzo’s glare pressing down on me like a weight. The same smokey Aura Shane got when he was angry flickered around the Mightyena. Sierra was slowly sidling his way closer to Enzo, just in case he decided to do something rash. I risked glancing over at Vix who was still growling at Enzo, her upper lip curling up to expose her teeth. I hoped that Enzo didn’t notice, but the flames around her had vanished, and her tails and ears were starting to droop. That last Chesto was starting to wear off.

The next instant is when everything seemed to go wrong. Out of nowhere, Abby let out a strangled cry and collapsed. Sierra seemed to completely forget about Vix and Enzo for a moment as he rushed to his daughter’s aid. Enzo saw the opportunity and took it. He charged, but not at Vix. The next thing I knew I had been wrenched off my feet and was dangling from the Mightyena’s jaws. He was holding me off the ground, at an angle so that I couldn’t pull myself free. 

“Slink!” Vix screamed, drowning out Eve’s simultaneous cry of alarm. The Vulpix was on the verge of panic, her anger turned to fear in an instant.

“Get back all of you!” Enzo growled. It was a bit muffled, but everyone could understand him. Reluctantly the others took a few steps back. Nobody wanted to give him a reason. Tears streamed down my cheeks, not from fear or even anger, but from frustration. My rage was boiling but there was no heat, no Fire. I wanted my fur to catch. I wanted to fill his mouth with flames and force him to let me go. But all I could do was push fruitlessly against his jaw with Psychic. 

“Vix. Come here.” At first the Vulpix didn’t move. Enzo clenched his jaw slightly, and I couldn’t help letting out an involuntary yelp as his teeth pressed into my throat. “Now!”

Vix took half a step forward before Eve threw her tail out to stop her. “Warp back. Tell Kegan where we are and what is happening. He only wants you.”

Enzo said nothing in response. Instead he curled his lips, showing his teeth to the others. All at once they burst into smokey black flames. I tried to brace myself, but nothing could prepare me for the Bite. There was very little pressure from his teeth, but I couldn’t stop myself from screaming as the darkness seemed to eat into my flesh.  The world seemed to blur around me as the shadows began to eat their way towards my core. I could already feel my Psychic being leeched away.

“Stop!” Vix screamed, tears streaming down her snout. “I’ll go with you. I won’t run; I promise. Just let him go!” 

Enzo considered it for a moment, before nodding. “Come, stand behind me,” he commanded. Vix rushed forward, her tails tucked sheepishly between her legs. She met eyes with me briefly, an apology buried within, before she dropped her head.  I tried to twist to keep her in sight, but Enzo gave me a sharp nip to discourage such behavior. 

“Don’t follow us,” Enzo commanded as he started backing up, herding Vix along with him.

Eve stared at us with the same desperation as the last time a Dark type took everything away from her. “Don’t do this,” she said, practically begging. “You’ll be an outlaw. The entire Expedition Society will be hunting you. We will catch you eventually. If you let them go, I promise we will forget this ever happened.”

Enzo’s grip on me loosened somewhat. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you. I never did. I just cannot lose my daughter again, especially since I just got her back. She’ll be safe with me. Don’t worry.”  Despite my situation, I couldn’t let this happen. As long as I was alive, I wasn’t about to let Vix get hurt when I could do something to help. I started thrashing in his grip, digging at the ground, him, myself; anything that would give me enough leverage to get out. 

The paw struck my ribs, the soft pads feeling more like rocks as they smacked into me. It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did, but the paw brought an immediate shock of pain followed by the almost acidic feeling of darkness eating into me. A freezing numbness followed after as my strength drained out of me. Some part of me realized that Fire would be able to stop the cold, but I couldn’t even conjure a spark!

Enzo hung his head, letting most of my body lay on the ground.  My limbs were twisted awkwardly, but I could barely feel them. “Sorry about this Slink,” he muttered. Before I could recognize the warning, I felt the darkness eating away at me once again. 

Things shifted in and out of focus for a while. I was vaguely aware that there weren’t teeth pressing in on my neck anymore. I could just hear the sounds of running footsteps. But the clearest sensation beyond the blistering pain burrowing its way into my heart and mind was the slow ebb of my Psychic draining away.  I forced myself over onto my stomach, my vision blurring. The last thing I saw was a red-brown smudge turning a corner and vanishing from sight.

I had no Fire, no Psychic, and now even Vix was gone.


	16. Dad

“Slink? Slink?! Slink!” 

Vix. Vix. VIX! No I couldn’t let it end here. For the first time in weeks I felt Fire fill my veins as I forced myself to my feet. That Mightyena was going to pay for what he did to me, to Vix! I took a single step forward, the grass where my paw had been charred and black. 

“Slink, please,” Eve cried, “Abby is hurt.” 

I half glanced back at them. Through the shimmer of heat that surrounded me I could see Sierra and Eve leaning over Abby. The younger Absol was laying on the ground, and she wasn’t moving. “But...Vix…” I protested weakly. My entire being was screaming at me to go after Enzo. 

“I know,” Eve said, her voice cracking, “but we need to help Abby first!”

My power faded, my body growing colder as the Fire left me. As soon as I felt it leaving, I snatched at it, trying to hold on. Maybe I didn’t need it now, but when we caught up to Enzo I needed every bit. The power slipped right through my grasp and vanished.

As soon as it was gone I stumbled. Enzo’s attacks had drained me more than I thought. My legs nearly buckled, and I had only taken half a step. Psychic hadn’t returned yet and Fire was gone. All I had left was me to hold my body up, and even that wasn’t working. 

Vix. 

I forced myself to take another step. If willpower was all I had, fine. I was going to keep moving, and I was going to get Vix back! Still it was all I could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other until I had reached the others.

“What’s wrong,” I grunted out through gritted teeth. 

“It was those damn spiders,” Sierra snarled. He gestured at Abby’s left hind leg. The flesh just above her paw was swollen and far more red than normal. Two small punctures marred her swollen flesh, the fur around them glazed with a nasty purple liquid. 

“Poison,” Eve clarified, a note of panic in her voice. “Slink I don’t have any Pecha berries.”

"I do.” I admitted numbly. I always had a personal stash to snack on when I wanted. Sierra lunged at me, claws extended ready to rip into my bag if that would get Abby the berry one minute sooner. I stumbled aside, nearly falling over. Eve caught me with her tail, and yanked me back onto my feet. 

“Sierra, calm down.” She commanded. Meanwhile I dug around in my bag trying to find the largest Pecha I had. It was gone as soon as I produced it. Sierra snatched it right off my paw, smashing the berry and letting the juice dribble into Abby’s mouth. The Absol instinctively swallowed to avoid choking. We all waited, holding our breath and watching. The swelling slowly, painfully slowly, went down. The flesh returning to its normal shade of red. Still, the wound remained, and Abby still wasn’t responding.

“The Pecha stopped the poison, but it can’t heal what the poison did. She’s gonna need some medical attention.” Eve’s voice was shaky, but each word was painstakingly placed. I knew exactly what she was doing. She was in crisis, and was trying to focus on what she could actually fix.

“Well what are you waiting for,” Sierra panicked. “Give her an Oran berry or something.” 

“That’s like asking us to put bandages on a severed limb,” I said, my brain still feeling a bit sluggish. “All of the Oran berries we have won’t help her. She needs to go home!”

Sierra nodded, fumbling with his badge. “I’ll send her home and then I’ll…” I think we all realized the problem at the exact same time. With my Fire out of commission, Sierra was the only one out of the three of us who stood a chance against Enzo. If...no,  _ when  _ we caught up to him, we would need him to get Vix back. But if he needed to go back with Abby…

Eve, at least, was still thinking clearly. She had pulled the Expedition Gadget out of her bag. The screen was alight as she tapped on it a few times, before suddenly Kegan’s voice rang out from the device. “Hello? Eve? Slink?”

“Kegan! We need backup. Do you know where we are?”

“Eve, please calm down. Explain the situation for me.” Kegan’s voice had become soothing yet authoritative in response to Eve’s panic.

I stepped forward. “The client we rescued turned out to be Vix’s father. He kidnapped her, and I’m not sure we can take him when we catch him.”

“Plus,” Sierra butted in, “Abby was poisoned, and she needs medical attention.”

The Gadget was silent for a long while. “Even without the Hatred you guys are neck deep in trouble. What do you need from us?”

"Kegan can you send a team or two, preferably Fighting Types to the exit of the Dungeon? That way if we can’t catch them, they can’t get far?”

"Certainly, but Eve that only works if they leave the Dungeon.”

“What are you talking about?” I growled.

“If they stall until nightfall and get purged from the Dungeon, they could end up anywhere. And at night they would be able to slip away easily. You guys need to chase them, pressure the kidnapper and keep him moving.” 

“But,” Eve whimpered, “he’s got  _ Vix.  _ We have to assume he knows every inch of the Dungeon. He could give us the run around for hours.”

“I don’t know what to say Eve. For kidnapping and the assault of Society members I can put a large bounty on him, but that won’t guarantee the safety of Vix.” He paused. “I will do everything I can to get Vix back, but there is only so much I  _ can _ do. This will all depend on if you can get the kidnapper out of the Dungeon.” With that, the line went dead. 

Eve stared at me, her gaze blank and broken. “H-how… how…” she couldn’t even finish the thought. How were we supposed to catch them, much less get them to do what we needed.

Vix.

“We will figure it out, and besides Vix won’t help him if she can help it. She will stall and fight and divert when she can. Besides we don’t know if Enzo knows about her abilities or not. He might be just as lost as we are. We can do this!” Honestly I sounded more confident than I felt, but being negative wasn’t doing anything. I had to hold on to the hope we could rescue the Vulpix. As I spoke I watched as Eve’s expression slowly morphed from panic to determination.

I turned to Sierra. His eyes darted between Abby and us. “Go. We’ll be fine, but Abby needs you. Go with her. Get her to Candice.” He hesitated before nodding uneasily. 

“You ready?” I turned to Eve, only to find that she had already started off. I scrambled to catch up with her. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I’m not about to let another Dark Type tear us apart!” She snapped before accelerating her pace. Honestly I’m not sure if Eve knew where the portal was, or where she was going. At the very least we had to have been close to the portal before we were diverted because of the storm. Enzo would have at least moved to the next floor before stopping to come up with a plan, assuming he could find the next floor. Our problems with out... well... foxing them would start on the next floor. 

We covered in ten minutes what it would’ve taken Vix only one. Ours was certainly the most round-about path to the portal, but we eventually reached the stone platform. Eve half glanced back as we entered the room with the portal, and I think she was relieved to see me following her.

Psychic was slowly filtering back to me, and Fire was nowhere to be found. I had been in a sort of haze since Enzo had left. My whole life, I had always had the cold clarity of Psychic to fall back on or the driven determination of Fire to guide me. Without either I could only muddle through without anything. I hated that sensation, but at least I had Eve to keep me on track.

And maybe more. The sound of running footsteps echoed down the stone corridors. “Wait, don’t go yet!” Sierra galloped into view before standing there panting. “I’m coming with you!” 

Eve and I exchanged a glance. “But what about Abby? She needs you.”

Sierra shook his head. “She has Candice and her apprentices. They won’t let her die just because I’m not there. Besides, Vix needs me more.” Eve opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately decided against it. I simply met eyes with Sierra and gave him a small nod. We both knew that there were no words to express the amount of gratitude I felt. 

Together we stepped onto the stone platform, and moved on to the next floor. 

We landed in a small clearing, surrounded by tall stone walls but not entirely a cave. The walls were dotted with alcoves. Some of them were deep enough to be considered dens, but none were deep enough for Enzo and Vix to hide. There was only one exit from the room, to the north. Taking that path, it took us nearly ten minutes to reach our first crossroads. There was the path we had come from, and three options for where we could go next. We stopped, looking around. Which way first? Without Vix we couldn’t know which way would lead to a dead-end, a loop, or the portal. How would we know where we had searched and where we hadn’t?

The sudden realization sent a shiver down my spine. Vix had made us soft when it came to traversing Dungeons. We simply didn’t know how to do it without her. A sense of panic slowly crept up my spine, but before it could overwhelm me, Sierra called out.

“Guys, check this out!” He was standing on the left path, cupping something in his forepaw. A lime-green glow reflected off of his paw-pads, an Expedition Society badge. 

“Enzo must have ripped it away from her once they were clear.” he said glancing down the path. “They must have gone this way.” I nodded as I took the badge from him and placed it in my bag. 

“Wait!” Eve called. She looked around as if she half-expected to see Vix hiding in the tall grass around us. “Its too easy. Enzo knows we would follow him, he would be an idiot not to. This has to be a false trail.” She stepped back. Her back foot hit something, the ground crumbling under her paw.

My mind reacted on instinct, grabbing Eve and levitating her away from what I assumed was a trap. As soon as she was safe I looked back, to find a two inch rut had collapsed in on itself. From the shape, it looked like… I pressed down on it with my power, collapsing the whole thing revealing an arrow pointing towards the right path. 

“I was right…” Eve muttered as she saw the arrow. “They went that way.” 

“Hold on,” Sierra protested. “The hidden badge was a trap, but the giant obvious arrow isn’t? Eve that doesn’t make sense.”

“The arrow has to be Vix. She manipulated the Dungeon, how else did the dirt disappear except the surface?” Eve glanced at me desperately, hoping I would side with her.

I hesitated, my mind spinning. Both ways seemed like they could be right. Right? How could I know which was the correct path? In the silence Sierra rushed in to drive home his point.

“From what you guys told me, when she used her powers in the Hatred base for the first time she almost passed out afterwards. She was already exhausted when Enzo took her. There is no way she had the energy to do this.” 

I shook my head. “Not exactly. That was when she had to tunnel through a wall. This is just leaving a mark. I don’t think this would cost her nearly as much.”

Eve beamed at me a sparkle appearing in her eyes. “So, you agree, Slink. Let’s go.”

“But-” Sierra tried to protest.

Vix.

“No. This is Vix. I’m certain of it.” Was I actually certain? No. Did Sierra need to know that? No. Would I end up regretting this decision? That remained to be seen.

The path the arrow had directed us to was long. We followed it, twisting and turning for several minutes until finally we reached another fork in the road. This one was shaped like a “Y” with only two other branches. I reached out with Psychic, hoping rather than expecting that I would find another sign. Thankfully, Vix didn’t let me down. The ground crumbled again revealing another arrow distinctly pointing to the left. 

“If this was Enzo leading us on a feral Yungoos chase, why would he leave two signs? This has to be Vix!” Eve was practically dancing with excitement. A tiny voice in the back of my head raised some doubts, and I knew that Sierra remained unconvinced, but I pushed both of them down. I trusted Eve, and she believed this. 

This second path was short so it was only about a minute before it dead-ended with the stone platform. Another arrow just in front of the portal directed us to head right on through.

Before we could even come close to the platform, Sierra sprinted forward blocking us. “Guys, we can’t move on yet. Unless we know for certain who made these arrows. I mean, what if Enzo put us onto a path to the portal, sent us through, and then he and Vix stayed on this floor. They would have free reign until nightfall and we wouldn’t be able to come back to this floor. Please let’s just check this floor better before moving on.”

“No,” Eve protested, “I know this is Vix. Every second we wait, they just get further and further away. We can’t waste time or we may never catch them!” She looked around, the hair raising along her back. “There has to be some...some way to… to… Slink, look at that.”

I followed her gaze to a point on the wall behind the portal. It was just a few inches above the platform. Gouged out of the stone was a single word. Even if a Pokemon had carved it using a move or by hand, they would have to stand on the portal to do it. Only Vix could have carved it with her powers. Plus there was the actual word. “Dreamstone,” I read breathlessly.

“There is no way Enzo knows about that, or even your connection to it. This has to be Vix. It has to. This is her telling us to trust her marks.” Eve said excitedly. 

“Wait, wait,” Sierra butted in, “what is a Dreamstone? And how are you so certain that Vix left that word?”

I forgot that Eve and I hadn’t let Sierra or Abby in on the Dreamstone search. “Its...something my father mentioned once to me, the night he died. I told Vix the story. She would know what that word means to me.” All three of us were silent for a moment. “We proved it was Vix,” I grumbled. “Can we please move on now?”

Without waiting for a response, I pushed past them, through the portal, and onto the next floor. Already there was an arrow in the ground directing me forward, like Vix was waiting for us. That is the way it went for another two floors, each crossroad containing a hidden sign. At the same time though, things were changing. The arrows that had started two inches deep and three feet long, were only a half inch deep and barely a foot long four floors later. 

“She’s getting weaker,” I said, staring in horror at the shrinking arrows. “She was exhausted to start with. Will she even be conscious when we find her? Either way, I don’t think we can count on her help for much longer.”

This revelation only led us to move faster, but Eve crossed the line into frantic. She was almost sprinting through the Dungeon, half glancing at each arrow with each intersection. Sierra and I were left to be left behind or run to catch up.

The clouds above echoed her darkening mood. The storm was truly upon us at that point. The clouds boiled, lightning flickering among and between them. Sierra flinched with every flash, but he didn’t say anything. The wind started to blow, small gusts at first but soon enough we had to brace ourselves to avoid being knocked over. 

The rain started, first a tiny drizzle but it steadily grew worse until eventually we could barely see two feet in front of us from the downpour. 

“Guys,” Sierra had to shout to be heard over the rain, “my horn is killing me. We are in danger! We have to find shelter and let this pass!”

As much as I wanted to keep up the chase I knew Sierra was right. I also knew that Eve wasn’t going to quit. I reached out, just barely managing to catch the end of her tail. “Eve, we have to stop!”

“I’m not stopping, not while Vix is still with that…” the last word was lost in the noise of the storm. 

“Eve, we can’t help her if we are dead. We have to wait. Besides, Enzo isn’t stupid or sucidal. They had to have stopped too.” She bit her lip, looking off into the Dungeon as if Vix was just a few feet away. Then lightning struck the ground only about ten feet from us and Eve jumped nearly a foot in the air.

“Fine,” she acknowledged. We turned following a blue blob that was just recognizable as Sierra. He guided us into one of the deeper alcoves, just large enough for the three of us to huddle within. 

We stood there dripping wet in the tiny cavern. Sierra had gone in first and was laying on his belly across the back. Eve and I were hugging the walls on either side of the mouth of the cave. The wind howled past the mouth of the cave, and while it didn’t carry any of the rain into the alcove with us, it still sucked away the heat leaving all three of us shivering. 

“S-s-s-Slink,” Sierra chattered, “w-w-w-w-we could r-r-really use a-a-a-a-a a fire.” A surge of guilt shot through my gut as I looked at the Absol. His thick fur was acting like a sponge. He was so sodden that with every movement, water trickled down his legs and puddled on the floor. He couldn’t even shake himself to dry because of the confines of the cavern. “I-if not to get w-w-warmer, maybe t-t-to dry o-o-off?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t.” I shivered. The cold had never really bothered me before. My entire life I could just shift into Fire and let that keep me warm. This violent shivering I was experiencing was a new experience for me, and it was scary.

Nobody spoke, although we all shuffled a bit closer to one another. Sure we didn’t have my Fire, but body heat would at least keep us alive until the storm had passed. Eventually Eve spoke. “Slink, are you okay?”

“What do you mean?” I grumbled. “Vix is gone and we are squatting in a frigid cave. Is there any reason why I  _ should be _ okay right now?”

Eve glared at me. “I’m worried about you, Slink. It isn’t normal that you can’t access one of your elements. Something is wrong here Slink, don’t you get that?”

“Yes, I get that,” I growled back, “but I can’t do anything about that. What I can do is keep going, save Vix, keep working, until maybe someday my Fire will come back!”

“You are rationalizing Slink,” Eve replied, “that is the Psychic in you talking. If I couldn’t control my powers anymore, I’d be freaking out. Why aren’t you? Where is that Fire?”

“I don’t know,” I begged. “Eve, please. I’ve tried. I don’t know what to do. Why does this matter to you so much?”

“Because I’m worried about you, dumbass!” Even Sierra flinched at Eve’s words. “And whether you like it or not,  _ we  _ are going to need your Fire, Vix is going to need your Fire. Come on Slink!” 

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

The Espeon met my gaze, almost pleading. “Can you try again, just one more time? Please.”

I rolled my eyes, but I did as she asked. I closed my eyes, concentrating. It wasn’t hard to think of things that should ignite my Fire. Any other day, just the mental image of Enzo’s face would be enough to turn me into a nuclear firestorm. Still, it at least started slowly heating me up.

My guard went up instantly as I felt another mind brush against mine, but it was just Eve. I felt far more self-conscious with her watching, but I kept trying to push myself into Fire. As had become usual, even as the heat within me grew my Psychic didn’t fade. The hot and cold reached a balance, but just as it reached the tipping point where Fire would take over that cursed image flickered through my mind. My whole body turned cold, Psychic pushing away Fire once again.

“Uggh,” I snapped, turning and sending a blast of Psychic out into the rain. It hit a tree high above, snapping off three of its limbs. “It doesn’t work! I told you it doesn’t work!”

Eve raised a paw. “Calm down. Look, I was watching, I could feel your power growing. But then Psychic took over again. You told me before that you can’t use both at the same time. Maybe your Psychic is stopping your Fire.”

Sierra looked at me. “She’s right. Earlier, you used Fire. Enzo used Bite on you twice. He took away your Psychic and suddenly your Fire was back. That can’t just be a coincidence.”

I turned away, staring out into the driving rain. “That’s ridiculous. It’s me. It’s my power. Why would my Psychic be doing this?”

Eve walked up, standing next to me. She faced out into the rain, watching it fall, taking in the clean smell. “Slink, I know what you saw. I know what you see every time you call on Fire.”

“What are you talking about?” I tried to dodge.

“I know you still feel guilty Slink. I understand that you don’t want to repeat it-”

“No, you don’t understand,” I snapped. My body shuddered as I felt myself shift between Fire and Psychic, cold and hot, angry and ashamed. “You can’t understand Eve. Your power is clarity. I know that, because sometimes the only time I feel things are clear are when I’m using Psychic. You’ve never lost control of yourself, of your power. You’ve never been unable to stop yourself from doing something you will have to think about every Arceus damn day for the rest of your life Eve!” I was shouting at that point, the temperature swings within my body becoming so drastic that I actually started to feel nauseous. “I can’t lose myself again! What happens if my power spirals out again? What happens if I come back and find that I’ve...hurt you? Or Vix? Or Abby, or Sierra, or, or, or?”

Words were just coming out of my mouth, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t stop them. Eve figured it out, because I immediately shut up once she licked my cheek. “Slink, I’ve known you for nearly a year and a half now. I can’t count the amount of times you’ve used Fire. You never lost control, and you helped keep all of us safe with it. Fire is a tool and like any tool it can hurt others if it isn’t used right. Slink you only lost control because Stanley pushed you to the edge. Anyone would have snapped under those circumstances. Slink, I know you don’t trust yourself, but I trust you. Vix trusts you.”

There were no words. I didn’t know what to say. Sierra did. “I have an idea,” he said. Eve and I both turned to him. “The answer is simple. Slink, you had Fire right after Enzo attacked you. He drained your Psychic and let Fire out. All I have to do is use a Dark Type move on you, and it should bring your Fire back.”

“What? Out of the question!” Eve snapped. 

“Why not. I know you saw it too Eve. Psychic is suppressing Fire, we need Fire. If we get rid of Psychic, Fire comes out to play. If Slink can’t do it himself, we can help him.”

“No,” Eve said.

“Yes,” I said. 

Eve and I stared at each other. “Slink, this is idiotic.”

“How? You said it yourself, the only way we stand a chance against Enzo is if I have Fire. I think we have established pretty clearly that I can’t bring it out. If this is the only way, then we have to do it.”

“For someone who is supposedly thinking clearly, this is a bonehead move!” Eve growled. “Yes, Sierra could probably bring out your Fire, but anything he does will also hurt you! Even if it turns out fine, this isn’t healthy. And what if it doesn’t turn out fine? You could get seriously hurt.” 

“Doesn’t matter,” I protested. “I will do anything to help Vix. If this is the only way for me to get Fire, I’ll do it.” My ears perked up, something had changed. The thunder of rain outside had lessened somewhat. It was still a downpour, but slowly it was starting to let up. “Come on guys. Enzo’s going to move the second it is safe. We have to be ready to go.”

I half expected Eve to argue, to try and bring me to her side in the debate about my Fire, but instead her expression had hardened into one of complete and utter drive and determination. Still, she shot me a look that I knew very well at this point.  _ We will talk about this later _ . The rain hadn’t even stopped when Eve led us out of our cave.

By the next intersection, we hit a little snag. Vix’s mark was still there in the soil, but the rain had battered it and twisted it until it was completely indecipherable. It was just a small, shapeless dent in the ground. “What next?” I asked looking around. There had to be a way to figure out where to go next.

“Do we split up?” Sierra asked. “Three paths, three of us. Maybe one of us can find the portal. Then we…huh. You two could talk to each other, but not with me.” He huffed. “Any other ideas.”

Desperately I sent out my psychic in every direction probing every wall, the floors, everything for some sign, anything that would tell me where they had gone. I sent out more and more energy further and further. There had to be something? How the hell were we supposed to find them otherwise?

I wasn’t ready to give up though. “Let me try something,”  I reached out with psychic, hoping more than expecting I would find...something. Maybe Vix, maybe a feral who had encountered them. Any sign of where they had gone. Then, I felt it. The mental energy was weak, but it was still a mind. Slowly I entered, reading everything I could. Whoever it was was exhausted, but I could still feel everything. There was only mind it could be... 

Vix.

"I found her," I called to the others, but keeping my mind on Vix. "They are still on this floor!"

"What? Where are they? Is she okay?" Eve asked frantically. I didn't answer waving a paw. I wiggled a bit deeper into Vix's mind, finding the part of her head connected to her eyes and ears.

"-father!" I jumped at Vix's voice. I had no idea what the conversation had been, but now at least I could hear it.

"Just keep moving," Enzo growled. "We need to get those Society idiots off our tails."

"I'm good," Vix protested sarcastically, "I don't really need them off my tails. In fact if you just want to leave me here that would certainly stop them chasing you."

"Funny," Enzo grumbled. "You know that there is no way I'm letting you go now, especially since I just got you back."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have left the first time!" Vix snapped, sparks flickering in her fur.

Enzo finally stopped moving, and Vix froze as well. I can safely say that neither of us knew what Enzo's reaction was going to be. His expression even remained neutral as he slowly turned to face the Vulpix. "I'm sorry about that. I really am. I know you don't believe me or trust me right now, but I hope if you give me a chance you will understand someday."

"Fat chance," Vix snapped. "You had a choice, and you didn't choose me. That is all I need to know!"

"It isn't that simple," Enzo pleaded, "Vix you have to understand."

"Then why? Why did you abandon me?" Vix growled.

"Because I wasn't strong enough!" Enzo howled. He hung his head. Vix and I had no idea how to react.

“What do you mean?” Vix finally asked. There was no give in her voice. It was still as hard and as cold as ice. 

Enzo didn’t even look up. “Your mother… my Rose...she was everything. You couldn’t understand how much I loved her. She was everything I had.”

“So then why did you leave her!” Vix was trying to keep her voice hard and angry, but I could hear her wavering tone. Desperation was creeping into her words, a desperation to understand. To make sense of why she had spent so much of her life alone. If I could have backed out of her mind in that moment, I would’ve. I was extremely aware that I was in Vix’s head, listening in on this private conversation. But with every second I spent in her head the better idea I had of where she was. 

“I didn’t want to,” Enzo sighed, “and to this day I wish I hadn’t. If I had known she was carrying you when I left, even Giratina himself wouldn’t have been able to drag me away. It was simply supposed to be a short, four-day trip to the Water Continent. I was trying to find us a place we could be safe, away from both of our pasts.” 

“What could you possibly be running from?” Vix asked, the malice all but missing from her voice. She was far too invested in the story to care. 

Enzo chuckled. “Remember the first thing I ever taught you. ‘If you are going to steal, be sure to steal from the right people.’ Unfortunately I pick-pocketed the wrong person, and it nearly cost me my life. I’ll never forget that Poliwrath, and I know he never forgot me. He is still why I can’t set foot in Festive Town.” He glanced at Vix, and grimaced. “I guess that makes two reasons now.”

“And mother?” Vix questioned, asking after a side of her mother that she had never seen.

“Her parents.” Enzo growled. Vix flinched, but relaxed as she realized he wasn’t mad at her. He was angry at the memory. “They tried to control everything about her life, who she could talk to what she could do. She told me once that they nearly killed her when she evolved. She had to sneak out of the house to find a Firestone, and they were not happy she had made that choice for herself. It was all she wanted to get away, and it was all I wanted to do to help her.”

“And then? Why were you gone so long?” Vix had no pity for the Mightyena. She was only concerned with the story. “You said it was supposed to be only a four day trip.”

Enzo laughed bitterly. “The Hatred happened. Isn’t that always the case. They staged an attack on Lapras Port. Nobody was hurt, but it scared the Expedition Society. They closed all ports, sending all Lapras away from the Continent with the warning not to return until they sent a Peliper. In some way, I was lucky that I was stranded on a Continent with the other branch of the Expedition Society. I kept an ear to the ground the entire time I was there, cursing as the Society scrambled, trying to figure out what to do. It took the bastards more than six months to sort things out. I made sure I was on one of the first Lapras back to the Fire Continent. I even risked landing in Festive Town, just so I could get home that much earlier.”

“But we weren’t there,” Vix whispered. “Mother moved me to the mountains...to hide me.”

“Rose was gone.” Enzo agreed. “That was the first time I lost her. I waited in her house, our house, for two days, but she never returned. Eventually even I had to admit that she wasn’t coming back. I didn’t know what happened, but I was determined to find her again. I started in the village she had lived, asking if anyone had seen her leave or if she had said anything. All I got was that she had been moody and kept to herself for weeks before suddenly vanishing. I guess that was when you were born.

“I spent years looking for you,” Enzo continued. “And even when I found my Rose it was too late. She had been gone for weeks by the time I finally found you. You acted just like her Vix. But this turned out to be a blessing and a curse. You were her, and yet you didn’t recognize me. It was torture. And then things got worse.

“That damned Polywrath never stopped hunting me. Every time I tried to go back to town, to get supplies, he and his goons got closer and closer to me. Vix, I wish I hadn’t, and I wish I could change things, but at the time I was in a place I hated and it wasn’t safe for me to stay. I had to get away, so I did what I could for you and then I left. I ran away, because I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t be near you anymore.”

Vix was silent. Even in her head I had no idea how she was feeling. It was just blank emotionless nothing. Then in an instant I was nearly forced from her head as she burst into flames, the fire going from red to blue to white in an instant. “It was torture for you? What do you think it was for me? Did you even care? Did that thought ever cross your mind? I would’ve died in that burrow had Slink and Eve never found me! All because you were too much of a coward to stay with me!” 

_ Vix, wait Vix!  _ I tried with all I had to talk to her, but she couldn’t hear me. She wasn’t listening. Part of me was afraid that she would indulge her anger, but more of me was concerned with how fast she was burning through what energy she had left. Soon she would pass out and we would have no idea where she was.  _ I’m sorry _ I whispered, hoping at least some part of Vix could hear me before I dove deeper into her head retreading familiar ground to get to her recent memories. I madly flicked through her memories, retracing her steps since she had landed on the floor.

I found the intersection Eve, Sierra, and I were at and carefully sorted forwards through her memories, memorizing the route she had taken. Then I felt it. Vix’s flames were snuffed out like a candle. The Vulpix gave a pained gasp before collapsing. Things started to get a bit fuzzy in her head, but we were both aware of Enzo approaching the Vulpix.    
“I’m sorry Vix,” Enzo whispered as he approached. “I know you can’t forgive me now, but give me time. When you wake up we’ll be in a safer place, and we can start over.” The connection faded along with Vix until I found myself back in my own head.

“We need to go,” I said opening my eyes, trying to orient myself with Vix’s memory. I barely paid attention to Eve or Sierra as I turned slowly. Middle path, middle path.

“Slink, wait,” Eve said, “what is happening? You said you found Vix.” 

I nodded. “She and Enzo had an argument. She tried to use Fire, but passed out. I figured out how to get to her, now let’s go. Enzo is carrying Vix now. That has to slow him down. This is our best chance to catch him.”

Sierra and Eve scrambled to follow me as I took off, half-running down the corridor. “Do we have a plan?” Sierra called.

“Let’s catch them first, then we can come up with a plan.” Eve growled. She practically glowed with power. Despite the fact that she couldn’t even touch Enzo, I still knew that there would be hell to pay for the Mightyena. 

I tried to stay focused on retracing Vix’s steps, but I couldn’t help but think about Enzo’s story. I didn’t like him, but I could empathize with him. He had been screwed over by the Hatred, and he seemed to still be paying for it.

“Slink, what happened?” Eve suddenly asked. “You said that they had an argument. Why now? Why’d Vix decide that now was the time to use Fire?”

“Vix asked him why he left her, and he answered.” I briefly described the entirety of Enzo’s story and Vix’s reactions to it. “I can’t stop thinking about this, Eve. All he’s doing is trying to hold on to the last bit of family he has. I can understand that,” I finished quietly.

Eve was silent for a while. “It doesn’t matter what he has been through. I’ll be damned before I let him tear us apart.”

After that, I just got back to navigating as best I could. Sure Enzo was also moving, but he also had to carry Vix. This was our best chance to catch him. Eventually though we reached the point where Vix had been. Thankfully, the path didn’t branch for quite a while yet. In fact the whole thing ended in the stone platform. 

When we landed on the next floor, we nearly ran right into the escaping pair. The point we landed at was within a small square room. A short corridor connected it to a larger room where Enzo sat waiting.

I froze in the mouth of the corridor, unsure if it was too late for us to hide. Had Enzo seen us yet? But he wasn’t waiting for us, in fact he wasn’t even facing us. I hadn’t noticed at first that Vix was curled up on the ground at his feet. Her eyes were fluttering halfway open, and every once in a while her legs would twitch. She was waking up.

The three of us ducked back into the corridor, just in case Enzo did look back. “Is it plan time yet?” Sierra asked sarcastically.

Eve nodded. “This is our best chance. He is off his guard. Sierra, if you were to charge him you could probably get a hit in before he even knows we are here. Even if you can’t knock him out it would give us enough time to grab Vix and get away.”

“Do we wait for Vix to wake up, or do we go now?” Sierra asked.

“Wait,” I answered after a moment of hesitation. “Vix has a tendency to attack when she wakes up after being captured.” I grimaced. That is not information anyone should know or have to use more than once.

I glanced back around the corner. Enzo was shifting about while sitting, ready to start moving again. I had no idea why he didn’t just pick Vix up again and let her wake up on the go. The Vulpix shifted on the ground stretching. I held up a paw, ready to signal my team as soon as Vix was ready. 

“Whaa… wha… what happened?” Vix slurred as she fought to wake up. She looked around, and immediately bolted to her feet. “Where are we? Where did you take me? I told you not to touch me.”

“Vix, calm down. I had to move you. We couldn’t afford to stand around too-” While he spoke he was stepping closer to the Vulpix. I saw exactly what was about to happen, but I also knew I would be too late to stop it. Vix panicked and instinctively spat an ember at Enzo. It was small, but Vix’s aim was pretty good. The red-hot spark burst against the Mightyena’s snout and splashed into his eyes.

Enzo reeled back, his paw swiping out automatically to swat away what had “stung him”. I forgot about the plan, forgot that I had nothing to fight Enzo with. I wasn’t about to let him hurt Vix. 

I moved faster than I ever had without Fire, vaulting over Enzo and landing on my feet sheltering Vix. His swipe glanced off my shoulder like it was nothing. Enzo stared at me, surprised at the least with my sudden appearance. As soon as he figured out what had happened, he swiped again, but this time with his claws extended each of them coated in a dark flame. 

There was nowhere to dodge, nothing I could do to avoid the attack, but I wasn’t trying to avoid it. He struck me low across my jaw, his claws leaving three shallow cuts across my cheek. Vix whimpered beneath me as she saw me take the blow, but I wasn’t about to move. 

“Let that be a lesson Fennekin. Let us go, or I’ll do more.” Enzo snarled. There was a tremor to his voice, and I wasn’t sure whether it was from anger or nervousness. “And you,” he snapped at Vix, “I didn’t teach you to cower girl. Stand up, we are leaving.”

“Well I taught her she could rely on me.” I growled my voice dripping with Flame. I wanted to scream from the sensation of Darkness eating away at my Psychic, but like Sierra had said, it did unlock my Fire. 

And I was ready to use it. 

My body became cloaked in Flames as I charged into the Mightyena. I didn’t have much time to build up speed, but the force was enough to knock him back a few steps, giving me room to work. Before I could strike again, Eve and Sierra were at my side. The Espeon was quick to coax the terrified and confused Vix out from under me. “We’ve got you Vix, but we have to move now.” Her voice was more soothing than normal, she was probably augmenting it with Psychic. “Sierra, I got her. Cover me. Slink… you got this?”

“For the moment,” I growled. Sure I had Fire now, but eventually Psychic would come back and I’d have a whole new problem. Still, I could certainly stall long enough for them to get Vix out of there.

Enzo snarled as he charged, his mouth filled with shadow. I planted my feet and spewed a wall of Flame towards him. At the last second he rolled aside, avoiding the attack. I braced myself to take the bite. Heck I welcomed it. As long as he didn’t knock me out, more Darkness would just keep my Psychic from interfering. He shot past me, not even coming close to hitting me. He wasn’t trying to, though. His entire being was focused on Eve, the last thing between him and Vix. I started my own charge, my fur bursting into Flames, but there was no way I’d reach the Mightyena or the Espeon in time. “Eve!” I shouted.

A blue figure appeared just before Enzo struck. Sierra lowered his head and caught Enzo’s bite on his horn. The two struggled for a moment, Enzo twisted and turned, trying to push Sierra over. The Absol resisted as best he could, trying to push the Mightyena back . Thankfully I was there to tip the scales. I rammed into Enzo’s side, searing away some of his fur and knocking him into the wall. 

It didn’t even stun him. He snarled at me before charging again, once more aiming at Eve. This time though, Sierra was prepared. He stood right in the Mightyena’s path, head bowed. As soon as Enzo got within two steps of the Absol, Sierra slashed with his horn, leaving a deep scratch. Enzo lept back before Sierra could land another blow. I circled around him, moving closer to the Absol. Behind us, Eve and Vix had nearly reached the exit to the room. It was almost over. 

Enzo wasn’t ready to give up yet. His eyes flashed dark purple, almost black. He opened his maw and a horrible screeching sound burst out of it. I slammed my large ears down, trying to block out the noise. The very air seemed to vibrate with darkness at the horrible noise. I started to feel dizzy as it went on, and I wasn’t even the target.

Eve screamed as the Dark sound struck her. Her gem flickered for a moment as she stood frozen, unable to even cover her ears. Finally though her gem died and she collapsed. I don’t think she was unconscious, just stunned, but she wasn’t moving. I was so distracted by the sound and my worry for Eve, I didn’t see the Mightyena coming. He wasn’t using a move, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt as he plowed into me. I was knocked off balance, and Enzo took the opportunity to slip past. Vix was all alone, confused and barely able to keep herself awake. Enzo was practically dripping with Darkness. He was aiming to knock the girl out. Maybe he figured it would be easier to escape with her that way.

Sierra was faster though. Somehow he managed to keep pace with Enzo, running right at his side. Sierra glanced at the Mightyena and then back at me before he put on another burst of speed, pulling just ahead of Enzo. Sierra leapt aside right into Enzo’s path. The Mightyena couldn’t stop in time and plowed right over the Absol. Eventually the pair rolled to a stop. Enzo was battered, but still he was pushing himself to his feet. Sierra on the other hand was still on the ground, his limp limbs splayed out at awkward angles.

I was the last thing between Enzo and Vix. The Mightyena was battered, limping every other step, but he had an almost crazed gleam in his eye. I took a deep breath, preparing Fire Spin, a prison of Flames that would hopefully stop him for good. A tiny tongue of Flame spurted from my mouth before fizzling out.

A chill ran down my spine. No not yet. I couldn’t lose my Fire yet. Not now when I was all alone. I thought quickly, easier now that my Psychic had returned, trying to come up with a plan. “That’s enough Enzo,” I growled, trying to buy some time, “If you leave now I won’t hurt you. You can go, free and clear.”

“Never,” Enzo snarled getting even closer to me. It took everything I had not to back away from him. Any sign of weakness and it would be over. “How about this, you let us go, leave us alone, and I don’t destroy you!”

A flicker of movement behind Enzo caught my attention. Eve was back on her feet, but she wasn’t heading towards the exit. She and Vix stood frozen, watching in horror at the Mightyena. Eve would have sensed my Psychic return. She would know that I was defenseless. 

“I’m not afraid of you Slink,” Enzo grinned as he stepped closer. He was only about arms reach away from me. At any moment he could strike out at me and I wouldn’t have enough time to be able to react. Enzo leaned in, grinning. “At least, I’m not afraid anymore. You’re having Fire problems aren’t you.” He grinned, “Poor Vix talks in her sleep. I wondered why you didn’t use Fire against all of the Ariados before.”

I was trapped between a rock wall and a Mightyena who held my life in his hands. “It's a shame,” Enzo said, and I was surprised to find he was being sincere, “I honestly would’ve preferred a fairer fight. I promise I’ll take care of Vix. You have my word on that.” Before I could say anything he lunged forward, his jaws closing around my shoulder. The pain was excruciating, the whole time I expected to feel the burrowing acidic pain of Darkness, but it never came. Enzo was smart enough to not use his Type, not to give me back my Fire. “Remember, Vix is my daughter!”

“Stop,” Vix screamed, “please Enzo, father, stop!”

Enzo froze, that one word seeming to get to him where nothing else could. His jaws opened, and I collapsed on the ground, not even attempting to catch myself. Behind Enzo I could see Vix sitting just in front of Eve. I’d seen her miserable, angry, devastated, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her defeated. “Don’t hurt him. Please. You don’t have to.”

Enzo shook his head, glancing back at me sadly. “I wish I didn’t Vix, but you and I both know he isn’t going to give up. We still have several hours until sunset. He’ll just rest up and come back again and again. This is the only way that we’ll be safe.” 

I couldn’t know Enzo’s mind, but I knew exactly what he wasn’t saying. As long as I was around, Vix would never really be Enzo’s daughter. We both knew that.

“You don’t have to,” Vix repeated. “Please let him go and I won’t fight anymore. I’ll go with you. I’ll do everything I can to find us a safe place to hide. Let him go, and I will help you escape.” 

“Vix, no,” Eve whimpered. “You don’t have to-”

“Yes, I do.” Vix snapped. “If I don’t Slink is dead. You both have risked everything for me. Now it is my turn.”

Enzo grinned. “Deal. But don’t sound so melodramatic, daughter. Trust me, things will get better. You will come to love me, I know it. “

My vision was blurry, but I knew exactly what was happening. Eve had stepped in front of Vix, a last-ditch, fruitless effort to try and save her. The image of the Mightyena prowling closer and closer to the two Pokemon I loved most in the world burned itself into my mind, seeming to play out in slow motion.

My vision flickered, the world seeming to telescope around me. In an instant it was that night again, I was back in that wooden box peering through a keyhole, watching Smoke and Shane leering over my family. 

Not again. Not again. 

Never again. 

_ Fwoosh.  _ The grass beneath me burst into flames as a wave of heat pulsed out of me. A mellow warmth filled my chest. It wasn’t Fire, and it sure as hell wasn’t Psychic, but it was still familiar. I’d felt this before, although never this intense. The sensation grew, almost becoming painful, spreading out through my body and limbs. It was like stepping into a warm bath. At least in the moment my pain faded away and I was filled with a new strength. 

I lifted myself up, literally using Psychic to levitate until I was floating above the ground. “Get away from them!” I shouted, my mind only partially aware of the flames still boiling across my back and shoulders.

The Mightyena turned to me, rolling his eyes. “You just don’t know when to quit do you Fennekin?” He bared his teeth at me. “You think this is going to change anything?”

At his words, I felt an itching sensation in my throat. Opening my mouth I produced a stream of Flame from my throat. It wasn’t nearly as large as a normal Flame thrower, but from Enzo’s cry of pain, it was just as powerful. The Mightyena’s red eyes flashed dangerously, his lips curling back from his teeth in anger.

Black smoke poured off of him, collecting in front of his snout into a tiny pinprick of Darkness. He howled, tendrils of Darkness exploding out, all headed towards me. I answered with Fire, my Flames vaporizing his Darkness and rushing onwards towards him. 

Enzo rolled just in time, narrowly avoiding being incinerated. He circled me, looking for some opening to strike. He dismissively stepped over Sierra’s prone body before planting his feet and tossing his head back. Deep purple energy surrounded his muzzle as once again an unearthly sound shook the world around me. Without thinking I struck, Fire exploding from my mouth. The sound of the rushing Flames drowned out the worst of his attack, but then I realized my new problem. At their current trajectory my attack would hit Enzo, but also Sierra.

So I stopped them. I had no idea how, but just before the Flames washed over Sierra, a pink barrier appeared, directing the Fire away from the Absol. My mind buzzed from the effort, but I never let up in my attack. 

Fire.

And Psychic. 

Together.

Impossible. That is what I had always thought, but now…

I reached out with my mind, experimentally feeling for the Flames. I had never done this before, I’d never had the chance. The Flames felt like water, a constant chaotic stream. And just like water, I realized, it could be directed. 

I pulled two flames towards me, attempting something I’d seen my family do a hundred times or more. I molded the flames with Psychic, while continuing to fuel them with my Fire. It tested my concentration, but eventually I had two rings of flame floating before me. I grinned as the flames around me seemed to react, almost gravitating towards the rings. I took a deep breath and unleashed a Flamethrower at the floating rings. The wide splash of flame I created narrowed and concentrated as it was pulled through the rings as it passed out of the other side it had been compacted almost into a beam.

For a moment I was breathless after my first Mystical Fire. Normally you needed a wand to direct the flames. I doubted any Fennekin or Delphox could say that they’d done it without.

Enzo was hurt, tired, done. Yet, as he regained his feet after my last attack, he growled at me. He tried gathering darkness around him, but it flickered and dissipated before he could do anything with it.

I didn’t want to kill him, but I was also certain that he wasn’t about to give up. I had one last idea to try though.

Flame Spin was easy to pull off, especially since I didn’t have to start small. Honestly it was more like another Flamethrower, but with Psychic I was able to pull and shape the flames, stretching them into a ring around Enzo.

I walked forward, forcing the Flames to part before me, closing like a curtain after I had passed. Enzo stared at me, finally fearful. The Fire within me roared, the ring of Flames around us growing taller and taller. I walked right up to the Mightyena, the Dark Type too afraid to do anything. I lifted myself up so we were eye to eye, pushing closer until our snouts touched, speaking slowly and carefully. “How about this, Enzo, you let us go, leave us alone, and I don’t destroy you!” I spit an ember into his face, just like Vix had. The Dark Type was too terrified to do anything as I leaned even closer, my snout just about touching his ear. “Remember this too, Vix is  _ my _ daughter!”

We stayed that way for a few seconds, eye to eye. Then he took a step back, and then another, and then another. He turned tail and fled from me. I instantly smothered the ring of Flame with a burst of Psychic, allowing him to go. He didn’t even hesitate as he passed over the scorched ring of Earth. 

Enzo ran until he came to the exit of the room. There he stopped, taking one last look over his shoulder where Vix sat. There was no sadness or pity in her face, only cold dismissal. I growled softly in my throat, a final warning to the Mightyena. Enzo shook his head before fleeing deeper into the Dungeon. 

As soon as he left, so too did the warmth in my chest. I stumbled slightly as the odd strength vanished with it. I closed my eyes, resting my head on the ground, even for just a moment. My body felt hollow, empty. I hated the feeling. 

A new form of warmth filled my chest as I felt a paw on my shoulder. I looked up to find Vix standing over me. Her eyes glistened with tears, but she still offered me a weak smile. “Slink,” she muttered softly.

I pulled myself to my feet, pulling her to me tightly. “Vix,” I replied returning her smile. “It’s over.” I laughed softly, relief nearly bringing me to tears. “You’re safe. It is over.”

* * *

Kegan and Candice were there to meet us as soon as we warped back. The Blissey immediately pulled Vix aside to start checking her over. She honestly shouldn’t have bothered because Eve and I weren’t about to let the Vulpix out of our sight. While Candice did her job, Eve and I explained as best we could exactly what had happened from the moment we saved Enzo from the spiders, to the final battle. For the most part I let Eve tell the story, especially once Candice pulled me aside to give me a check up. She carefully traced her fingers over the cuts Enzo had given me and carefully massaged my legs and back, checking for any damage from the darkness I had been exposed to. 

“You should be fine,” she concluded. “Your partner knows ‘Morning Sun’, correct? She should perform it on you as soon as you get home.” She turned to leave only to find a frantic Sierra in her path. “Your daughter is fine. The Pecha Berry did most of the work, she just needed some rest. Come with me, and we’ll go see her.”

She turned to leave, but Sierra hesitated looking back at us. “Go ahead,” I smiled, “we’ll meet you, and hopefully Abby, at home.” The Absol nodded, but before he could leave, Eve grabbed his tail.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “I don’t know what I’d do if we lost her. Thank you for helping us.”

Sierra leaned in, pressing his forehead to hers and wrapping a foreleg over her shoulder. “It’s the least I could do. We’re family, right?” With that he ran off after Candice. 

The three of us were dismissed, and all we wanted was to go home. Vix insisted on walking, but she could barely make it upstairs to the main lobby. Without a word, I lifted her onto my back where she curled up, purring softly. She was asleep before we even left the building. 

It took us only a few minutes to get back home, although getting to our apartment was a bit difficult without disturbing Vix. For the moment at least she was sleeping peacefully, and she deserved it. As soon as we got inside, Eve used Morning Sun on the both of us, her body glowing orange with the light of the sunset outside. I’m glad Candice had recommended it, because I hadn’t realized how sore I was until it all went away. Besides, the relief allowed me to relax.

Eve carefully lifted Vix from my back, keeping her supported as she transferred her to the bed. We didn’t move far, both of us settling on our bed for the time being. Neither of us said anything, but I knew we both were finding comfort in simply seeing Vix safe and asleep.

Eventually though, Eve asked the question I knew was coming. “What was that back there? Against Enzo? You told me that you couldn’t use Fire and Psychic at the same time.”

“I can’t,” I answered automatically. “I mean, I shouldn’t be able to. I don’t know.” 

We were both silent for a moment, both thinking, trying to wrap our heads around what had happened. “It’s happened before,” I said softly the dots suddenly connecting in my mind. “There was this warm feeling, I know I’ve felt it before.”

“Isn’t that just Fire?” Eve questioned. “When did you feel it?”

“No, this is different. Fire is heat. You know when you get into the bath, but the water is too hot, where it feels so hot that it almost feels cold? This is warmth, like a blanket, like when I’m with Vix. Like when I’m with you.” I turned to Eve, to find her smiling at me. I pressed my nose against hers. “I mean this thing, whatever it is, saved you so how bad could it be?”

“What do you mean?” Eve asked.

My heart stopped, as I suddenly realized I had never told Eve everything about that day. I’d never told her that my blood had the same chance of killing her or saving her. 

“Remember that day we first met Sierra and Abby? Smoke... hurt you and you needed blood?” Eve nodded.

“Well… I was the only one who could give you blood, but there was still a risk. Only my Psychic blood could help you. My Fire blood…” I grimaced looking away. “My Fire blood would have killed you, and none of us knew which side of me was which. I was overwhelmed and confused, but then that warmth appeared. I felt it shift to my right, and I trusted that that was my Psychic side.”

I felt petrified in that position, unable, or maybe I was just unwilling, to turn back and gauge Eve’s reaction. I heard her shift beside me before her paw came down on my shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” Her voice wasn’t accusatory, merely curious.

“You survived. I got it right. With all of that, it didn’t really seem to matter anymore.” I shrugged, glancing back nervously to meet her gaze. “Honestly, I was also afraid of what you would think.”

“Here’s what I think,” Eve said simply, “I really don’t mind Slink, it doesn’t matter. Like you said: I’m alive. If I had been there with you, I’d have told you to make the same decision.” She dropped her paw from my shoulder, laying it on top of mine. “What I’m curious about is what this ‘warmth’ is. Why did it apparently tell you where your Psychic side was? How can it let you do something that you yourself said is impossible?”

“I don’t know.” I replied, but before I could elaborate I was interrupted by a sharp whimper. Eve and I jumped turning to Vix. She had rolled over in her sleep to face us. Her expression twisted into a grimace as she kicked out fitfully with her feet. She whimpered again, her tails lashing out. 

Another nightmare. I cursed softly to myself. Could she not get  _ one  _ restful night of sleep?

“Should we wake her up?” Eve asked as she pushed herself into a sitting position.

“No, she deserves some uninterrupted sleep. Look, let’s just go into her head and clear away the nightmare.” 

Eve bit her tongue. “She asked us not to go in her head. I don’t know why she would ask that, but she must have a good reason. Maybe we should ask her about it when she wakes up.”

Vix cried out, an actual shout of pain or fear. My heart leapt into my throat and I stood up. “Enough is enough,” I grumbled. “I’m going to help her. If she hates me later, oh well. I can’t just watch.” I started to reach out with my power, but I paused as I felt Eve do the same thing beside me. “Eve, I think you should wait.”

“And why is that?” The Espeon huffed. 

Honestly, I figured that Vix would probably be more comfortable with me in her head over Eve. What I said was, “Like you said, she probably has a reason to not want us in her head. Plus you know how stubborn she can be when she gets angry. If this goes sideways, better she only be pissed at one of us.”

Eve scowled, but eventually she conceded. “Fine. Just get in there, clear things out, and come back. Understand?” I nodded, as I slowly extended my power passing effortlessly into Vix’s unconscious mind.

I’d been in here before, several times. Instead of the familiar space I remembered though, every nook and cranny of Vix’s mind was filled with a thick dark cloud. Slowly I approached the swirling Darkness, reaching out to touch it. The instant I made contact, I was enveloped and everything faded around me.

* * *

I’d shared memories before, I’d shared the senses of another, but I’d never shared a dream. It was certainly a unique experience. Unlike a memory, I retained my sense of self, but I could still feel Vix’s every thought and feeling. At the same time it was like we were sharing senses, yet the stimuli I received through her was muffled and dull. Really that was the only sign that all of this wasn’t real.

Through Vix’s eyes I could see that the dream had brought her back to where it had all began. The sun hung low in the sky just above the tall pine trees that lined the stone walls. Tall grass whispered as a slight breeze combed through it. I knew exactly where we were. If Vix were to turn around we would see her old den, but Vix had something else to focus on in the moment. 

Sitting before her was her mother, Rose. The Ninetales sat still, her eyes fixed on Vix, a huge smile splitting her snout. Vix returned the smile, tears filling her eyes. Pure relief and joy at the memory of her mother rippled through her being. For a brief moment, I wondered why this was Vix’s nightmare. 

Then things changed. “I have to leave for a moment, my love,” the Ninetales said softly. Her smile remained, although it had faded somewhat, becoming strained. There were tears in her eyes along with a new Fire. " **Don't worry, I'll be back by the time the sun sets** ." More than a year later and these words still held so much power for Vix. They echoed in the empty air, resonating within her mind, and their power even briefly tore a hole in Vix’s dream world. 

“Mother? Mother wait!” Icy dread shot through Vix as she spoke, trying to prevent what she knew was about to happen. “Please… stay with me.” 

Rose stood up, moving closer to her daughter. “I love you. Don’t ever forget that. But this is something I have to do.”

The Ninetales nuzzled against Vix, her muzzle sweeping past the Vulpix’s before Rose suddenly turned tails and vanished into the tall grass. Vix sat by the mouth of the den, staring at the point where her mother had vanished. Flames flickered across her tails as she whimpered. She was tense, her muscles bunched up ready to move. Finally she pushed herself to her feet, a fire burning in her heart. She was going after her mother.

The Vulpix wasn’t nearly as graceful as her mother had been. Vix awkwardly waded through the grass where her mother had effortlessly drifted through it. Rose had passed through the grass so smoothly that she hadn’t even left a trail for Vix to follow. The Vulpix craned her neck, looking around, trying to find some clue as to where her mother had gone.

It was in that moment that I realized that this Vix, the version in her dreams, wasn’t the three-year-old that had originally lived this memory. At the same time though, she wasn’t my Vix either. She was more muscular, but her fur wasn’t nearly as clean or healthy. Tiny blue whisps of flame flickered around her tails, and yet she definitely had more control of them than my Vix would have. This was a Vix that had lived her whole life here on the mountain with her mother.

Vix’s ears flicked up as a sound came from the path on her right. The sun had sunk closer to the horizon, now well below the treetops. In the growing shadows, Vix could just see a red-orange glow filling the clearing. 

Rose stood crouched, ready for a fight. The light emanating from her tails and the Flames that sizzled between them. "Threaten and bully me all you want," the Ninetales shouted into the night, "but stay the hell away from my child!" Her tails writhed behind her like snakes, the light from them growing brighter as the heat and her anger grew. Around her shadowy figures, little more than silhouettes, circled, preparing to pounce.

As Vix watched, she started to heat up too. She could help. She wanted to help. Deep down, in the corner of her mind she knew what would happen if she didn’t help. She could save her. She had to.

A sharp pain bloomed between Vix’s shoulders as she was ripped off her feet. A scaly paw clamped her muzzle shut before she could cry out. A thick arm wrapped around her middle, pulling her tight to whomever had grabbed her. “What have we got here?” a harsh voice whispered. Vix lashed out, beating her flaming tails against her attacker, but it didn’t seem to affect him.

“Hello Vulpix. We’ve been looking for you. How kind of you to come find us.” Vix arched her back, trying to wiggle away. Out of the corner of her eye she was just able to catch a glimpse of her attacker. Her dream self couldn’t recognize him, but I did. Quake.

“Smoke, I got her!” The Ninetales flinched, her head turning slightly at the call. It was an opening that one of the shadows couldn’t possibly miss. They were almost too fast for Vix to see as they shot across the clearing. Rose barely had a chance to scream before there was a wet  _ thock.  _ Vix froze, staring in horror at a leering Smoke standing over Rose with a blade of water buried in her chest.

The world faded to black, empty except for Vix’s scream.

She was back in the den, sheltering in a small nest of grass from the earth-shaking booms above. A legendary storm was shaking the world above ground, rain finding its way into the burrow turning the whole place into a muddy mess. Vix was trying to sleep, but the chill in the air combined with the thunder outside made that impossible. The Vulpix tossed and turned, eventually rolling over to face something that made my stomach twist. 

Crouched in the back corner on one of the only patches of dry earth was a hulking mass of black and grey hair. Red eyes glowered from within the unkept, matted, pile of fur. Enzo seemed just as, if not more, miserable than Vix from the storm. 

Vix sat up slowly, keeping on top of the slightly damp pile of grass that was her bed. She opened her mouth carefully, before pausing. The Mightyena had been around for a month now, and Vix still had no idea what to call him. It had taken him a week to tell her his name, and he would glare at her whenever she spoke it. Vix knew what he was to her, but he seemed to outright resent the titles of “Father” or “Dad”. Vix grimaced. “Mightyena,” she eventually said pausing to wait for his response. Enzo blinked, the only indication he had heard anything. “Why are you staring at me? What is wrong?”

The Mightyena curled his lip at the question. “Nothing is wrong Little Vixen. Everything is just fine.” There was a hint of venom in his voice.

“I hope this storm stops soon,” Vix said in an ineffectual attempt to start a conversation. “It’s nearly sunset…” she finished lamely. The Mightyena simply rolled his eyes.

“Do you have to watch  _ every  _ night?” He snapped.

“Yes,” Vix insisted stubbornly.

The Mightyena sniffed, huffing. “You know what, I was thinking. I think it is time for me to make another run. I’ll only be gone for a couple of days.” He looked away from Vix at the last sentence, staring at the entrance to the den. 

“Now?” Vix asked curiously. Enzo had made a few “supply runs” over the last month. He always came back with odd treasures that Vix usually hadn’t ever seen. Odd berries that were different than the Oran and Pecha that grew nearby. There were also strange combination foods. Meat and berries, berries and bread, things that Vix couldn’t even imagine how they were made. Enzo occasionally also brought strange things made of paper with weird black figures that he was using to teach her to read. 

Things had changed though, especially in the last week. After he had come back from his last “run” he had been moodier than normal, angrier. Vix had checked his bag when he returned, hoping for a treat or maybe more material to read. The only paper she had found was a single page with a scratchy picture of Enzo on the front. Below was what she recognized as a number with a letter, P, in front of it. Other than that it had been blank. 

“Yes, now.” Enzo insisted with a growl. “There are a couple of things that cannot wait until tomorrow. I have to go now.”

Vix cocked her head. “Where do you go? Where do you get all of that stuff?” Enzo didn’t answer. He simply stood, shaking some of the water and mud out of his fur. He stomped past Vix, scooping up his grey-leather bag as he went. A small thrill of fear ran through Vix. She scrambled to her feet and hurried to intercept him. She nuzzled his chest like she had with me a hundred times.

Enzo stumbled backwards, nearly falling over into the mud in his rush to get away from Vix. He stared at her, a mix of pain and anger on his face. He lowered his head and pushed past Vix, forcing himself through the den’s exit and was gone. Vix remained where she was, frozen. 

Suddenly the rain was gone. Light was pouring down through the same tunnel that Enzo had left through. In the sudden light, everything was dry again, as if it had never rained. Vix didn’t even seem to notice this change as she threw herself into the tunnel, dragging herself up to the surface so she wouldn’t miss the sunset. A tingling feeling rose in her stomach, a mix of excitement and dread. 

The place looked the same as it had the night Rose had been killed, the world suffused in a golden glow as the sun began to sink. Vix sat down just outside the mouth of her den and froze. I felt it the same as her. She was paralyzed. No matter how hard she tried her muscles wouldn’t respond. 

The wind started to blow, the tall grass moving in waves around Vix. Above, the sun started to sink seeming to move faster and faster as it inched towards the horizon. The world around Vix got darker and darker, the moon slowly rising but still the Vulpix didn’t move. She stared off into the darkness showing no signs of exhaustion or worry. She just sat there, unblinking.

She was in the same position as the sun came up the next morning. The Vulpix was sitting so still that dew formed in her fur, and she couldn’t even move to shake it off. The day quickly grew hot, the grass drying out to rustle as wind pushed through it. Still the Vulpix sat, unmoving.

Night came again, and then day. Night and day.  _ Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. _

Vix remained where she sat. Dust started collecting in her fur, staining it an even deeper brown. Her tails lay flat below her on the ground, practically caked together with mud. 

_ Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. _

The rains came, soaking the Vulpix to the skin. Her fur hung off of her raggedly, the ground beneath her becoming a slimy marsh. Behind her, the mouth of her den collapsed but Vix didn’t move. She didn’t blink even as rain filled her eyes. She just sat there waiting.

_ Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. _

The sun came again, the knee deep mud Vix had been wallowing in hardened into concrete. The ground was slowly swallowing the Vulpix. She herself had begun to deteriorate as well. Large patches of her fur were simply missing, scratched away by the blowing sand. She was thinner, her skin pulling tight to her bones in places.  _ Vix,  _ I called out to her, but my words held no power. I wasn’t a part of this dream.

_ Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. Day. Night. _

Soon the world was crumbling around her. The sun came up at night, and the moon never set. The grass shriveled, turning brown despite the constant rain. The wind carved away the rocks around her, the mountain itself seeming to melt like ice. 

_ Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. Day. _

Vix’s muscles finally relaxed, letting the Vulpix collapse onto her belly. As she blacked out, her only thought was that Enzo had never come back. 

Vix was angry, I could feel that before she even opened her eyes. Waves of anger and frustration poured off of her. She walked with her shoulders hunched, almost absently gliding briskly down the corridor of a dungeon. In the background I could hear hurried footsteps as someone tried to catch up. 

“Vix,” I jumped. It was odd to hear my own voice saying something I hadn’t said. It was even more surreal to see myself sprint into Vix’s line of sight and sit down in front of her. “Vix, wait. I’m sorry.”

“What is there to be sorry about,” Vix grumbled pushing past me. She continued on, and from within her head I could see the tears forming in her eyes. “You just told me that I should evolve because you don’t need me anymore.” 

“That isn’t what we said,” Eve’s voice rang out, seeming on the verge of tears. “Vix, please just talk to us.”

Vix spun around, Eve and I stopping in our tracks. “You asked me what  _ I  _ wanted, and I told you. I don’t want to Evolve yet. That’s it!”

Vix looked at me, almost challenging me to argue with her. “Vix,” I said softly. “All I said is that you don’t have to feel obligated to stay a Vulpix, or a Navigator anymore. I also said that it is your choice. I love you, and I want what you want.”

“You know we’d never make you Evolve if you didn’t want to.” Eve chimed in. “We just wanted to know if you have a plan. Especially since we aren’t going to be going on missions much anymore.” Eve flashed a slight smile. “I seriously don’t see you at a desk-job.”

The sour mood vanished instantly as even Vix flashed a smile. “Oh, what makes you say that?” She giggled.

The three of us continued on, Vix in the lead and still chuckling to herself. Perhaps that is why it took her a second to register when the ground suddenly gave in under her feet. Time seemed to slow down for the Vulpix, as the map of the Dungeon suddenly appeared in her head, the trap she had just activated glowing brighter and brighter. 

_ Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft:  _ Vix attention was instantly drawn to the end of the corridor where thick iron spikes were being fired out of the wall. Eve and I were still oblivious. Vix had seconds to warn us, but she didn’t have enough to get any words out. She threw herself in front of us, her tails fanned out as wide as she could before the first spike hit.

Pain. So much pain. The world spun with it, was filled with it. Was made of it.

Light. So much light. The world was filled with it, and as the brilliant white glow expanded it drove away the pain. 

The ceiling of the hospital swam into view as Vix slowly returned to consciousness. She lay there for a moment, before everything rushed back to her in a fraction of a second. She leapt to her feet, looking around frantically for Eve and me. 

A sudden hand between her shoulder blades forced her to lay back down. “Vix, Vix, calm down. Calm down!” Candice’s voice would have been soothing any other time, but the sheer panic Vix was feeling couldn’t be smothered.

“Where are they?! Where are they?! Take me to them, please! Are they…?” Vix was so panicked that she couldn’t really focus on much, even the fact that her voice sounded funny; deeper somehow. 

“Vix, calm down!” Candice ordered. “Pele, David, a little help,” she called for her apprentices. 

Vix turned so Candice was face to face with her sharp teeth. “Answer the question!” 

“They are alive,” Candice said firmly. “Slink and Eve are alive. They will recover, for the most part.”

“What does that mean?” Vix asked, pulling away from Candice. Her anger had vanished, leaving only worry. And guilt. An all-encompassing guilt.

“There were a few...problems.” Candice took a deep breath before continuing. “Slink… he took a lot of damage. Most of it to his front right leg. There was nothing I could do…” she didn’t need to finish.

“And Eve,” Vix whimpered her voice quavering. 

“Her injuries were less, but she was just unlucky. One of the prongs of her tail was torn off, but one of the spikes cracked her gem.”

“What does that mean?”

Candice bit her lip. “I’m no Psychic, but Kegan thinks that it might make Eve’s power unstable. Probably not dangerously so, but it won’t be as precise as it was before.”

Vix turned away, the bedsprings creaking under her weight. “Vix, I know how you feel, but you were hurt pretty badly too. You have to rest.”

“You  _ don’t  _ know how I feel.” Vix snapped. “And I feel fine!” She collapsed onto her belly, shivering. “This is all my fault. I should have seen the trap.”

“Vix, it wasn’t your fault-” Candice tried to protest, but Vix stopped listening at those words. Because it was her fault. She had been distracted, and now the two Pokemon she loved most in the world were hurt, badly, because of her. 

“No, no, no, no, no,” Vix whimpered burying her head in her paws. “No, no, no, no, no.” 

“-and just because you don’t feel hurt doesn’t mean you don’t need rest. It's because I had to take...desperate measures...” Candice finished nervously.

“No, no, no, no...no..” Vix stopped running her paws over her head. Things felt different. Her muzzle was longer and thinner than it should have been. Instead of soft curls of long fur on top her head, she felt a wiry crest of hair. “No, no, no, no, no, no.”

“I had to induce evolution,” Candice said softly, “it was the only way to save you.”

Vix remained frozen, absolutely frozen. Even her mind had stopped.

“Vix I know that this is disorienting. I know this is hard. I’ll sing you to sleep, give you a little time before you have to deal with this again.” She placed her hand on Vix’s back, stroking softly. “Maybe when you wake up, Slink and Eve will be awake. They’ll want to see you. I know they will.”

Not like this. Never like this. Before Candice could react, Vix was up and running out the door. Out of the building. Out of the town. Running. Running. Running.

_ Enough!  _

I siphoned together as much Psychic power as I could, and pushed it into that word. The dream world shredded like paper. 

I opened my eyes, back in my own body. Vix leapt up (thankfully still a Vulpix), her hackles raised, her tails flickering with flame. She was disoriented, afraid. Slowly she turned, meeting my gaze, before bursting into tears. 

I half expected her to yell, to scream at me for going into her head, but she didn’t. She leapt from her bed over to ours, scaring Eve and myself before pulling herself to me, getting as close as possible. The entire time, tears ran freely down her cheeks.

“Vix, its okay,” I whispered to her as I tentatively placed a paw on her back. 

“No, its not!” She sobbed. “I-I-I didn’t want you t-t-t-to see me like that. I didn’t want you to see me hurt you.”

“You could never hurt me.” I said. “And I could never hate you even if you did. Vix, I care about you. After all that we’ve been through how could I not?” I nuzzled my nose against the top of her head, pulling her even closer. “You are my daughter Vix. You should never be afraid of losing me.”

“I know! Slink, I know but…” she stared up at me, her brown eyes glistening. “Everyone who has ever cared about me, I’ve lost. My mother… my father.”

I shook my head. “I get it, the same thing happened to me too remember. But I found new people to care about me. You and Eve. Vix, I worry every day that something might take you both away from me. That is why I fight so hard for you guys, so that if I ever fail it’s not from lack of trying. Your mother fought so hard for you, and Enzo… he stopped fighting. He doesn’t deserve to be called your father.”

I paused, but the Vulpix just continued to stare at me, trying to process what I had said. “Trust me, I will never stop fighting for you Vix, no matter what. That is one thing you don’t have to be afraid of.”

Vix nodded softly, as my words sunk in. She rested the side of her head against me, two of her tails absently rubbing up against my forelegs. Finally she glanced up at me, giving me as much of a smile as she could manage. “Thank you,” she whimpered. “Thank you, dad.” 


	17. The Water Continent

The little building was unobtrusive to say the least. Honestly I might have walked right by it had it not been for the giant blue and white sign that hung over the door. It wasn’t the _Pelipper Post’s_ fault that it had been built in the shadow of the Expedition Society (both literally and figuratively), but unless you had business there you probably wouldn’t look twice at it.

I was sitting just outside the front door, under the awning to avoid the drizzling rain. The small, two-story building was packed. Sure some of that was from the fact a Milotoc was one of the patrons, but about a dozen other Pokémon were also inside trying to send a letter or a package, Eve included. The namesake Pokeon were flitting in and out of the open roof in droves. We had both decided it would be best for me to wait for her outside. Until it started raining.

I wasn’t only waiting for her. I had a couple of grocery bags settled on the ground beside me. We were headed for the Water Continent the next morning, so we were just finishing up the last few things before we went. Who knew how long we would be gone. We’d gotten groceries to restock our bags, some extra food for the Lapras ride, and we were just finishing up with Eve sending a reply letter to her sister.

This came as a surprise to me. The only reason I even knew that Sam had sent Eve a letter in the first place is that Eve dragged me here. Ordinarily this would have been fine, Eve didn’t have to tell me everything about her life after all. The problem though, was that we literally spent all day and all night together. For me to not know about Sam’s letter meant that Eve had deliberately hidden it from me.

To be fair, I wasn’t mad or annoyed. I was concerned. Was there something I did? Or was it something in the letter? Why did Eve not want to even tell me about this?

I didn’t have long to think on it though, as Eve finally finished with the post. “Well that was...insane,” Eve gave a sarcastic smile, “so anything else before we head home?” 

Despite what was going on in my head, I made sure to not let it show on my face. “I don’t think so. Besides it’s getting dark.” I hated traveling, especially on Lapras, so I was more than ready to call it a night. 

As we walked home we were silent. While the sound of the rain was nice, I would have preferred to talk to Eve. Every time I looked at her she looked away. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. “Eve...are you- are you okay?”

She still didn’t look at me. “I’m fine,” she said almost normally. Still, I knew her well enough to detect the tiniest quaver in her voice. “Why do you ask?”

I raised an eyebrow, although I was certain that she didn’t see that. “Well, you’ve been acting a bit… off since you got that letter from Sam. I was just wondering if...I said something, or if I did something.”

Eve stopped walking. It took me a few steps to even realize that she had frozen. Her face was twisted as I turned back, and for a moment I feared she was afraid or even crying. In reality, she was doing something even stranger. She was laughing.

“Trust me Slink,” she gasped after a moment. “It isn’t anything you did. Honestly it is more of a me, and my family, thing.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Arceus no. Slink, I get that you are concerned but I really don’t want to talk about it. Yet. Look, if you really need to know I’ll tell you when we get back from the Water Continent. I promise. Otherwise, please just let it go.”

“I would, but you’ve been acting strange,” I said. “Eve, I’m just concerned. If you say it’s no big deal I won’t press. I just want to make sure that you are okay.” I licked her cheek. “If this really isn’t that big a deal, can we please be good?”

Eve grimaced. “Sorry about that.” She looked up, finally meeting eyes with me. “I don’t mean to be. I’ll try not to be weird about it, okay. Now come on, we should head home.”

We were still silent, but it was less strained now, more comfortable. That was until we turned the corner and Eve suddenly threw out her tail to stop me. “Oh Slink, I almost forgot.” She walked quickly until she was standing in front of a small store. The massive sign above the door read _Dazzling Gleam_. She glanced back at me. “Isn’t this where Kegan got Vix’s old bracelet? Did you ever put in an order to get a new one?”

I shook my head. “No. Not yet.” Now it was my turn to awkwardly dodge a conversation. While we had saved Vix’s bracelet after our encounter with Enzo, the metal had been twisted and torn apart. Similarly the Firestone had been dashed against a lucky rock which had split the gem in two. I knew the Hatred was still out there, but at the same time Vix and I were hesitant to get a new bracelet.

Any time I thought about it, Vix’s nightmare would flash through my head. I remembered the devastated, hollow feeling she had had when she had evolved. I never wanted Vix to feel that pain for real, so I procrastinated getting her another Firestone as long as possible. Now though, we were at the store. Since Eve was with me I was certain that I wouldn’t be able to push off getting the bracelet anymore. 

She pushed through the door, a relaxing chime filling the air from the Soothe Bell hanging by the door. The inside was a square room with a large glass display on all three walls. The place was dim, currently only lit by the grey light pouring in through the front windows. It was bright enough, however, for light to glint off of the dozens of treasures scattered about. 

Gold, silver, and bronze pieces were piled in the glass cases. Most, if not all, containing a gem of some kind. Rings, necklaces, pins, bracelets, and even stranger items like piercings or a singular suit of armor fit for a Lucario that stood in the back corner. Some pieces were cheaper, like a couple of brass, copper, and iron pieces, but most were made of precious or semi-precious materials. At the front near the door they had racks where various fine fabrics were hanging along with clothing items made from both common or luscious materials.

A lone Sableye stood in the back, carefully examining what seemed to be a pair of interlocking lockets, but he set them down as we approached. “Welcome to the _Dazzling Gleam._ What can I help you with today?” There was a scratchy quality to his voice that set my teeth on edge. It was probably a result of his species, so I couldn’t exactly judge him on it. It was still grating on my sensitive ears though.

I stepped forward with the smallest sigh. Reaching into my bag I carefully extracted the remains of Vix’s bracelet. The Sableye swiped it up as soon as it was on the counter. He twisted it back and forth before his diamond eyes. “This is my work, yes? But whatever have you done to it? I hope you aren’t hoping for a repair job.”

“I suppose not.” I said with a grin. “As is though, I guess we are in the market for a replacement.”

The Sableye didn’t seem to have heard me as he continued to examine the twisted metal. “Hmm, this gold wire isn’t in too bad of shape. We should at least be able to reuse some of this. That should cover most of the cost of the replacement.” He paused, sticking his finger out and prodding the mass. “There was a setting here, correct? Do you still have the stone?” 

“Kind of,” Eve said with a grimace. I pulled the two halves of the Firestone from my bag and placed them on the counter. 

“Ah, I see. Well, that is no good. If you wish, I can dispose of these for you.” He reached out to sweep the stones off the counter, but I had grabbed them before he even got close. I became very aware of both Eve and the Sableye’s curious looks.

“I’m a bit sentimental.” I grumbled.

“Alright then. Lucky for you my smith is in today. I’ll take this back to him and see what he thinks. Feel free to look around while you wait.” Without another word he had slipped through a curtain leaving Eve and me alone. There were plenty of treasures in that shop to keep us entertained. Eve was fascinated by the exotic fabrics, while I was more interested in the metallic treasures.

“Do you think these guys have a booth at the Festival of Xerneas?” Eve purred as she rubbed up against a Wooloo wool blanket.

I grinned. “Are you trying to tell me something Eve?” She rolled her eyes. “If they don’t, I know exactly what to get you for your birthday.”

She laughed. “Don’t get me the blanket. It _is_ amazingly soft, but we live on the Fire Continent and I sleep next to you every night. Why would I ever need a blanket? Now that scarf on the other hand…”

I followed her gaze to a deep blue scarf that was hanging alongside the other items. On the outside it was a very fine fabric, probably silk, with intricate white patterns stitched into it. Inside though it was lined with a thicker material, probably more Wooloo wool, that was dyed the same deep blue. Overall a fine item. “For something like that you definitely need to wait until your birthday.” I winked at the Espeon. 

**Riiip.** Both of us jumped at the sound. I leapt back as the bottom fell out of Eve’s grocery bag. The berries we had purchased tumbled out, scattering across the floor. Those that weren’t ruined in the impact were squashed as Eve slipped and fell on them.

Eve usually didn’t swear, but in that moment I felt like I needed to cover my ears. I reached out, helping the cursing Espeon to her feet. The fur on her side was stained from the berry juices and tangled with little flecks of Oran and Pecha skin. I tried to check her over for injuries, but she brushed me off. 

“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.” Eve growled as she shook the sodden remains of the grocery bag off her shoulder. The paper bag hasn’t stood a chance against the damp weather. I took the opportunity to look mine over as well, but it was fine. My thicker fur and greater body heat had kept most of the water away from it. “What the hell do we do now?” Eve groaned.

“When we are done here, we can double back to the market. It’s not _that_ big of a deal Eve. Besides it is letting up outside, and we won’t have as many stops to make on our way home.”

Eve shook her head. “It’s getting dark, and I don’t want to be out any later than we already are. What if we split up? You can finish up here, while I go back to the market.”

“Eve, I’d go. You don’t have to.” 

Eve nuzzled me. “Really it’s fine. Besides, the rain should wash out some of this, at least.” She gestured to her berry-encrusted fur. “Meet you back home?” Before I could get another word out, she was out the door and gone. 

I was left alone in the front room for another five minutes, plenty of time for me to clean up as best I could, and browse the full collection of treasures. Eventually the Sableye returned. Instead of the remnants of Vix’s bracelet, he now held a sheet of paper. “David drew up this as a rough design for your piece. If it looks okay to you we can get started on it.” He looked around for a minute. “Ay, where’d your mate go?”

“Partner,” I corrected with a small smile, “and she had to run back to the market for a moment.” I glanced behind me to where there was still a sticky puddle on the floor. “Sorry about that.”

The Sableye waved a clawed hand. “Don’t worry about it. Were about to close anyway. Our cleaning crew will get it later. Now, about the sketch.”

I gave the page a short once-over. It basically looked identical to Vix’s old bracelet. “That is perfect,” I said as I passed the page back to the other Pokémon.

“Excellent. Now, we do have a couple more orders ahead of you, so it might take us a week or more to get this done.” 

I waved a paw dismissively. “No problem. We are headed to the Water Continent tomorrow and we probably won’t be back for more than a week. Take all the time you need.”

“The Water Continent ay? My nephew just moved up there. What takes you there? Society business I assume.”

I shrugged because honestly we didn’t know. Kegan had given us a letter a few days ago that was from the Society administration on the Water Continent. They had asked us to come to visit the Society there for a few days. “Honestly, no idea. Still, should be fun.”

“You ever been to the Water Continent?”

“No, but my father was born there.”

The Sableye grinned. “Well, fair warning, winter up there is intense, especially for those of us from the Fire Continent. You should stock up on some cold weather materials before you go. Might I recommend one of the beautiful scarves we have for sale.”

I half glanced back towards Eve’s blue scarf, before shaking my head. “Our team members are either Fire Type, or have very heavy fur. We should be fine. Thanks for the warning though.”

He nodded before scribbling down a ticket for me. “You can pay when you come to pick it up. Will there be anything else?”

Halfway through my nod, I glanced back and froze as something caught my eye. “Actually, there is one more thing…”

* * *

Mist hung close to the ground thick and white, nearly blinding us. If it wasn’t for Vix, we certainly would have wandered forever in the Dungeon. Somewhere in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but wonder if that was the point. 

This Dungeon was different than any other we had been in, other than perhaps the Hatred’s base. It felt...older...as odd as that sounds. There was a sense of ancient power tingling in the air. While other Dungeons were already tightly woven labyrinths, this one was so complex that even Vix took twenty minutes to navigate single floors. It was also quiet and empty. The entire journey, we didn’t see a single feral.

The cold, dreary weather of the Water Continent didn’t help either. The Sableye hadn’t been lying. The sun was out, yet the cold and humidity kept the morning fog right where it was. Abby and Sierra’s fur was matted, water dripping from their thick fur. They weren’t complaining though; earlier in the morning, before the sun came out, that water had been ice. 

Vix was perfectly dry, her fur gently steaming as her Fire evaporated the mist away. I was in the middle. My Fire was still unreliable, my Psychic continuing to butt in at the worst times and disrupt it. At the very least I could use Fire occasionally. My fur was damp, but not dripping, and even then it was growing drier. Fire, for the moment at least, was responding. 

Eve was where she had been for the past five days since we had arrived at the Water Continent. She didn’t have an inner Fire, neither was her fur thick enough to trap any heat. She was tucked into me, her head just above my shoulder, leeching off of the plentiful heat I was producing. I tried to keep my Fire close enough to the surface to warm her, but not so close that my fur would catch. I was just glad that Vix was there too, so when my Fire failed, Eve still had some way to keep warm.

The cold had first hit in the middle of the ocean as the weather grew cooler and cooler until, for Eve at least, it had become unbearable. “G-g-g-guess I w-was wrong,” she’d joked. “Looks l-l-like I c-could have used that b-bl-blanket after all.”

Or a scarf, I thought to myself, that would have been useful _now_. What I said was, “Don’t you remember what you said about the blanket? Why would you need that when you have a Fire Type?” I lay down next to her and fired myself up. 

Out in the middle of the ocean every star was visible. It was a perfect picture, like what the planetarium back at HQ could produce. I glanced at Eve with a smile knowing, without Psychic, that she was thinking about the same thing as me; the evening we had spent in the planetarium when I had taught her all of the constellations like my father had taught me. It was a beautiful moment, just the two of us. For the briefest moment, I considered asking her about Sam’s letter again. I knew it was in her bag, but I didn’t want to ruin the moment.

Sierra, Abby, and Vix were hunkered down in the small shelters our vessel provided. For this journey, we weren’t on the typical Lapras. The Expedition Society was experimenting with different methods of transportation given that more and more civilians were using the Lapras travel lines. There were only so many Lapras in the world, and each could only hold two or three Pokémon at a time. 

The Society had allowed us to take an experimental craft that they were testing. It was a large wooden platform with several balloons under it. Overall it was about three times the size of a normal Lapras, so the five of us fit comfortably. This new craft was attached to the Lapras using a special harness, allowing the Pokémon to pull it. The added weight slowed the Lapras down a little, but only by half a day. This new setup though would allow other water Pokémon to help with the transportation. The Society hoped it would further evolve the transportation system, making travel between the Continents faster and cheaper. 

The ride was far more comfortable than normal, I’ll admit. I still hated sea travel, but at least it could have been worse. All in all it was a two and a half days journey to reach Lively Town. That morning when we got our first look at it, the five of us unconsciously gravitated toward the front of our ship to get the best look possible.

I thought Festive Town was huge but it was nothing compared to Lively Town, being merely a third the size. It seemed as though the town had originally been built atop a small coastal mesa bisected by a river, but had since grown so big that buildings simply poured off the sides and into the valleys The town stretched at least a mile north and south of its original center, but was also more cohesive than Festive town. A lot of the buildings, regardless of their purpose, all looked alike. They were round and tall, with pointed tips. In the center of the city, towering what seemed like miles above the rest of the buildings was the Expedition Society. 

It had to have been at least twice the size as the Fire Continent HQ. The stone tower seemed to touch the sky, crowned by an absolutely massive planetarium dome. I glanced at Eve, and couldn’t help but grin at the sheer awe in her face.

The landing was a bit awkward, the dock not being built for our boat. Eve’s quick thinking made it work. Our combined power made it easy. Together we were able to guide the ship safely to the dock. Once disembarked, we thanked the Lapras and then Eve and I helped push him out to sea. The five of us then headed up a path of stone steps hewn into the cliff-side towards the Expedition Society HQ. 

The path deposited us into a crowded market square the moment we crested the cliff. The crowd was so thick, and moving so swiftly that we probably would have been separated, swept away by the crowd had Vix not reached out and grabbed onto us with her tails. With her tails wrapped around legs, tails, and even horns in Abby’s case, she towed us through the crowd. The five of us together were able to push our way through until finally we arrived at our goal. The enormous wooden doors of the Expedition Society hung open, welcoming us inside. 

At first glance, the lobby looked identical to the one back home, but like everything else it was nearly twice the size. The massive circular room was lined with comfy chairs for patrons to wait in. A grand staircase took up the center of the room, leading deeper into the tower. A dazzling blue glow emanated invitingly from the next floor up. 

Unlike our HQ though there seemed to be two hallways branching out from the lobby. I only managed a passing glance down one of them as we entered. It seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance, gradually curving as it went. Dozens of doors lined the halls, and I even caught a glimpse of a few Pokémon, all wearing blue-and-silver society badges. 

Tucked in a corner, to the left of the staircase, was a massive wooden desk. Instead of Kegan though, a Floatzel was perched behind it. She wore thick goggles, a quill in her paw scratching along the parchment as she scribbled, occasionally pausing to consult a heavy leather ledger on the desk beside her. As we approached the desk she raised her head, her heavily magnified eyes regarding us. “Hi, how may I help you today?”

Eve stepped up. “Yes, we received a letter a few days ago-”

“-Oh, are you Team MindFire? Oh my, yes. We’ve been expecting you.” She hopped down from her stool, shuffling out from behind her desk. “Mr. Ampharos asked me to bring you to his office as soon as you arrived. Follow me, I’ll take you there.”

Up the stairs, higher and higher into the tower of the Expedition Society, she led us. Other than size, the place was mostly laid out like the HQ on the Fire Continent. Then I laughed correcting myself. Fire Continent HQ was laid out like this place. The Water Continent HQ was built first after all. As we passed through the second floor, we all paused for just a moment to look at the Pokemon Nexus, the original Nexus. The literal heart of the Society. 

Finally we reached the last floor beneath the planetarium’s dome. Several large offices filled the majority of the floor. As we wandered past them, I peeked through several doors. One was an architect’s paradise, blueprints and drafting tools covering every surface. Another was filled with all sorts of containers filled with mysterious chemicals, crystals, and brightly colored vapors.

Finally, the Floatzel stopped before a thick wooden door etched with lightning bolts. She knocked firmly, waiting a moment before turning the knob and pushing the door open. “Sir, you have visitors.” The Floatzel said poking her head into the room.

“Of course, Lara, bring them in.” The voice was strong and deep, but there was an unmistakable strain to it. The Floatzel, Lara apparently, nodded before pushing the door fully open and beaconing us in.

An Ampharos sat behind the desk. A small pair of spectacles were perched on the very tip of his nose and he practically lay over the table making minute notes with a quill. The badge on his chest wasn’t the usual silver. It was gold with silver wings, and about a third larger than the typical badge. His golden fur had faded to a silver along his head, neck, back and around his white belly-fur. His arms and legs were still mostly gold, the color saturated around his paws. He also seemed deflated, like there should have been more to him than there was. His skin was wrinkled, and his crouched posture seemed natural for him. “Ah, welcome,” he said to us as we entered, “one moment, I’ll be finished and then we can talk.” Now that I’d seen him, I recognized the strain in his voice. It was the raspiness that naturally came with age.

He set down the quill and sat up in his chair as much as possible. He carefully folded his glasses and set them on the table. He regarded us carefully, eyes roving over us, mentally measuring us. We met eyes, and he froze. A small spark burst off of him, and his hardened gaze softened into something else. Recognition? Surprise? I had no idea. “I can’t believe it,” he muttered to himself. I wasn’t sure if he knew that we could hear him.

He shook his head. When he looked at us again, a warm smile was on his face. “Welcome to the Water Continent. You are Team Mindfire I assume.”

Eve nodded. “Yes, er sir. You, uh, sent us a letter I think.” She dug into her bag with her tail as she spoke. As she withdrew her tail, a pair of letters was clamped between her prongs. She took a half-glance back at them before letting the bottom one drop back into the bag. She glanced at his gold badge while offering the letter. “You are the leader of the Society...right, uh sir?” 

The Ampharos didn’t even reach for the letter. He regarded her for a moment before he burst out laughing. “Hahaha, oh Lara did you hear that? I like this one.” He threw his arms up, his chair tipping back as he went. Eve and I both lunged forward to try and catch him before he hurt himself, but Lara got there first. She dove behind his chair, bracing against it and lifting until it was back on all four feet. The Ampharos continued on like nothing had happened. “My dear, you flatter me. I may have once been in charge, but not for fifty years at least. And no more ‘sir’ stuff. Just call me Ampharos. Everyone does.” Eve reeled back, obviously caught off guard by the Ampharos. “Also I don’t mean to correct you, that would be rude after all, but I didn’t write you a letter. I didn’t ask you to come here.”

For the briefest moment, my blood ran cold. _Trap,_ my mind screamed, _the Hatred. Run, run!_ Just as soon as it came, it went. When Eve spoke again, there was a definite quaver to her voice. I wasn’t sure if she had heard my thoughts, or if those same thoughts were running through her head. “Then...then why are we here. Who wrote the letter?”

“Don’t worry young one. I do know who sent the letter. It was an old student of mine. Of course now, I suppose, he ranks higher than I do in the Society.”

“Oh, thank Arceus,” Sierra said from behind me. I wholeheartedly agreed. “So where is this guy?”

The Ampharos cocked his head. “Well, that gets difficult. He isn’t based in Lively Town. He only ever comes to town every few months. Most of the time he’s…” Ampharos paused blinking. “Oh darn it. I can never remember. Lara would you please get me a scroll?”

The Floatzel briefly disappeared before returning with a large silver tube in her arms. She placed it on the table unrolling it onto the desk. It wasn’t one solid piece like it seemed, instead it was hundreds of long, thin metal plates. As soon as it was unrolled, the center lit up with a green glow. Above the desk a perfect replica of the Pokemon Nexus appeared in the air. Ampharos started tapping on different panels, each making an audible clicking sound. Soon the map changed, the Water Continent growing until it was the only thing on the globe. Another few clicks, and the image grew again until only the center of the continent was visible. A pair of black dots appeared on the globe. One labeled “Lively Town” and the other “Serene Village”. The second black dot was nearly overshadowed by a red dot that was positioned on the mountain right beside it. 

“Ah, that is right. He lives on Revelation Mountain.” He glanced at us, a grimace on his face. “Don’t get old kids, you hear me? You’d forget your tail if it wasn’t attached.”

As soon as Ampharos said the name, Eve stiffened. “But sir- I mean Ampharos, that’s one of the forbidden Dungeons. How are we supposed to go there? How does anyone live there?”

The Ampharos looked confused. “Forbidden? Well that won’t do. Well, if nothing else the Expedition Society would have to charge you for going there. I’m sure we can look the other way if need be. Anyway, it should be a three day journey to get you there. I say you should spend the night here, get a fresh start tomorrow.” He glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall behind his desk. “Ooh, it’s almost dinner time. I’m going to head down there.” The Ampharos hopped down from his chair, grabbed a knobby wooden cane that was leaning on the desk, and ran directly into the wall. All five of us jumped, not quite sure what to do. 

“Ampharos, it is the other way,” the Floatzel said patiently. The Ampharos nodded, before working his way out the door, barely using his cane. Lara turned to us, a blush covering her cheeks. “He’s a bit...eccentric, but he was one of the best leaders the Society has ever had. He was instrumental in diverting the Dark Matter disaster. And obviously he is still trusted with Society Business.” She grimaced. “I’ve seen your guy. I’ve never talked to him, but I’ve seen him once or twice. I don’t know his name, but I know that he is a Lucario. Come on, let’s go to dinner, then I’ll show you guys to your room.”

As Lara left the room Sierra, Eve, and I exchanged glances. So far our trip to the Water Continent had been...odd to say the least, and it looked like we still had a long ways to go.

* * *

We left before sunrise the next morning. We had nothing left to do at Society HQ, and I know we all were more than a little curious to find out who had brought us here and why.

Ampharos and Lara still saw us off, despite the early hour. They meticulously explained the easiest route to our destination, although it wasn’t the most direct. We had to travel halfway across the continent. Ampharos showed us the road we should take that would avoid all major Dungeons. Sure we still ran into a couple of five-floor Dungeons, but Vix got us through them in only fifteen minutes each. The mountain range we also had to cross raised a few issues. There wasn’t a single known pass that wasn’t also a powerful Dungeon (apparently a ley line ran underneath the mountains). Ampharos directed us towards one that was the weakest, only twenty floors as opposed to forty. All in all, Ampharos guessed that we should reach Serene Village in three or four days. 

With Vix’s help, we made it in three, although I’m certain we could have been there earlier if we chose to. Either way, we only had to spend one night in a Dungeon, and even then we were out by noon the next day.

Serene Village came into view by sunset. The sunlight reflected off of the ocean, turning the buildings into little more than silhouettes. The instant I saw the town, an odd warmth entered my stomach. My whole body relaxed, and for some reason I felt safe and comfortable. My gaze gravitated towards a hill on the other side of the bay from where we were standing. A lone tree stood at the top. It was bare for the winter, but I could sense that in the summer its foliage would be thick enough to block out the sun when sitting below it. 

“Slink? You...okay?” I jumped at Eve’s voice. I suddenly became aware of the tear dripping down my face. “What’s wrong?”

“I have no idea,” I said. I was as bewildered as she was. “I just...it felt like...nevermind.” A shiver ran down my spine, and I turned my back on the village. What was that? The town made me think both of home and somehow of great loss. Perhaps it was best that we left the village behind, at least for now. 

We spent the night at the base of the mountain. There was an abandoned building there, basically a hut. It was a tight squeeze for the five of us, but it was only for the night. We were up early again the next morning. Now that we were so close to the end of our journey, we were ready to be finished. 

By lunch, the mist that shrouded the whole dungeon had yet to thin at all. Vix showed us to a small clearing, small enough for us to see the walls and the two corridors that led in and out of it while not so small that we couldn’t fit comfortably while we ate lunch. Tempers were a bit worn from the cold, hunger, and general exhaustion. “Apples, again?!” Vix whined as Eve and I pulled our supplies from our bags. “I’m tired of this stuff. When are we gonna get actual food?!”

“I’m sorry,” Eve said patiently, “we’ve been away from home a lot longer than we anticipated. Just be patient. Tonight we’ll hopefully be in a place with food, and after that we can warp back to Lively Town as soon as we are done.”

“Fine,” Vix grumbled, rolling her fruit between her paws, “but I don’t want to eat another apple for at least a week after this.” 

Eve rolled her eyes, standing and stretching. “Fine. Slink, would you mind packing up? I need to go...er…’Explore’ for a minute.” She blushed as she fumbled over the words. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She lifted her bag over her shoulder and wandered back the way we came, moving just around the corner. 

Slowly I started packing up the leftover food, carefully putting it into my bag. My mind was somewhere else though. Vix was still working on her apple behind me, while Sierra and Abby were curled up, their eyes closed. A nap didn’t sound bad, but I didn’t have time. 

“Vix,” I whispered as I continued to work. “Would you possibly do me a favor?”

She looked around at the others. “Sure. Why are you whispering?”

“Look, this has to stay between you and me, okay?” I glanced at the doorway and then at Sierra and Abby. “Vix, do you think you can get something out of Eve’s bag without her noticing?”

Vix stretched. “Of course I can. Did you even need to ask.” She raised an eyebrow. “Why though?”

My furtive glance at the entryway probably only made me look more guilty. “I promise I’ll explain later. You just have to trust me, please.”

Vix grimaced. “Slink, I don’t know. That feels wrong. I don’t know what else to call it. Can’t you just _ask_ her for it?”

“No,” I said probably way too loud, sounding panicked. I took a breath before continuing. “Vix, I promise she won’t notice it is missing. And if she somehow does find out, I’ll take the blame. Please.”

Vix still seemed a bit uncertain, but she eventually gave me a small smile. “Sure, _dad_. But I’m holding you to that promise. Of course, first I need you to tell me what I’m grabbing.” I rolled my eyes at her words. She only ever seemed to call me dad sarcastically. 

I smiled, before explaining exactly what I needed. “... and you don’t have to rush into it. Whenever you can get it. I just need it before we get back home.” 

Vix nodded. She looked like she was going to say something else, but at that moment Eve returned. “Aright everyone,” she said loudly enough to wake Abby and Sierra, “almost there. Might as well get it over with.” 

We continued on at the same mile-eating pace. We would certainly feel the exertion tomorrow, but we felt it was worth it to end the journey sooner. Vix lead us true, and only a few short hours later we reached the end of the Dungeon.

The thicker layer of air passed over us again as we left the Dungeon. It already was an unpleasant sensation, but as we left the Dungeon, my skin started to crawl. The fur on my back stood on end, a chill running down my spine. My shoulder blades clenched together on instinct. I had the distinct feeling that someone was watching me. Watching us.

I glanced around nervously. The fog was seemingly contained to the Dungeon, so I could see everything around me clearly. Still there was nothing. Nobody. Not in the trees nor in the grass. I even sent out a pulse of Psychic, but I only saw two minds: Eve and Vix.

“You feel it too,” Eve whispered. Her gem was glowing faintly, and her fur stood on end. “Someone is watching us.”

“I can’t sense them.” I muttered nervously. Do you think they’re Dark Type?” 

Eve shrugged. “I don’t think so. Something about this feeling...it is almost Psychic, don’t you think? She looked around, as if the watcher was about to appear. There was nothing we could do, so we simply continued on following the path further up the mountain.

As we walked, I kept my senses open and my ears perked. I had the best chance of hearing our watcher. Eve was just ahead of me with Vix considering that I couldn’t use Fire while searching. I could feel her sending out Psychic pulses constantly. This allowed me to focus my power behind us.

I didn’t notice our watcher directly or through Psychic. A rustle in the trees here, a misplaced shadow against a rock there. Every flicker of motion I caught out of the corner of my eye was instantly suspicious. 

“This is ridiculous,” I grumbled loud enough for Eve to hear me. I turned around, towards the last rustle I’d heard. “Show yourself!” I shouted.

“Slink, that’s not helping.” She glanced at where I’d been looking. “Maybe they are scared? If that is the case, do you think yelling at them is going to help? Maybe they’ll reveal themselves on their own. Just give them a chance.”

She was probably right, but I was still frustrated. Enough so that sparks began to appear in my fur. “I’m sorry. It’s just… this whole trip has been one crazy thing after another. Part of me just wants to go home at this point.”

“Slink, we can’t,” Eve said patiently. “Whoever asked us to be here probably had their reasons. We can’t just leave. Besides they are high enough in the Society that they could probably get us suspended if Team Mindfire doesn't show up-”

- _Crash!_ We all jumped as something seemingly fell out of the tree behind us. We all turned, curious as to what the hell had just happened. I glanced back at the others as I slowly approached. There was a thick, Oran berry bush beneath the tree. A single yellow paw stuck out from it, reaching up in the air.

I leaned over, trying to see who and what it was. The air popped, and I leapt back feeling something like an electric shock. A bust of blue flames burst out from the bush as whoever had been in it leapt up into the tree. I didn’t even see them, only the faintest flicker of motion. I guessed that was why we hadn’t seen them up until then. Once back in the tree the Pokemon crouched in the shadows, its forepaws held up in front of it defensively, both flickering with the blue flame.

“Who are you?” Eve called to the creature in the tree. “We won’t hurt you, please come out.”

“Why do you think I’d believe that?” The voice was clearly feminine, but there was still a childish squeak in it. “Throw one of your badges up here, so I can see your Team Symbol.”

Whether this Pokemon was hostile or not, taking off your badge was usually a pretty bad idea. “I’ll do you one better,” I called up to her. I turned aside, showing off my bag and the larger etching of the winged symbol I had stamped there. 

A red eye peeked out of the shadows, followed by the rest of the Pokemon. They shuffled forward along a branch, inching into the light. Glittering golden fur covered the creature’s head and arms, while the other half was a deep black. A pale, cerulean collar encircled their neck. Deep blue flames wreathed their paws, and small blue embers blazed in their eyes but both seemed to be fading as they calmed down. 

“Who are you, and why are you following us?” I growled.

The Riolu shifted nervously. Despite obviously being nervous and more than a little afraid, she stood up straight and looked directly at us. “Sorry, I just…I’m from the village and I needed to make sure that you were you.” She grimaced. “I’m Lucy by the way.”

“What do you mean about making sure who we were?” Sierra asked.

Lucy shrugged. “I just… Ampharos sent word when you left HQ, and our scouts told us when you arrived at the base of the mountain last night. My Grandfather asked me to wait here for you guys, but I couldn’t help but feel suspicious. That journey should have taken you much longer than it did.” Lucy sheepishly rubbed at her tassels. “I guess I was a little paranoid, but to be fair there are plenty of bad people who would do anything to find this village. You guys probably just got really lucky with the Dungeon.” 

None of us said anything, but it was everything I could do to not glance at Vix as she said that. “Anyway,” Lucy continued, “I’ll take you to the village. Grandfather will want to see you guys.” She glanced at the sun. “He should be able to see you tonight if we hurry.”

Despite what she said, she didn’t really lead us. Instead she chose to hover in the middle of our party as we returned to the road and headed higher up the mountain. “Your grandfather? He’s the one who sent us that letter?” I asked as soon as we were moving. 

The Riolu nodded. “He’s very excited to meet you guys. I think you really caught his attention after your assault on the Hatred base.” Her voice grew quiet as she glanced at me. “Is it true that you were kidnapped by them?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she stiffened, her expression twisting into a grimace. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“You’re fine. I was, I don’t mind talking about it.” I was taken back a bit at her question. It was the sort of thing most people wouldn’t normally talk about. She seemed genuinely curious, or maybe she just loved stories like that. Maybe both. Thankfully I didn’t have to think about it long, as Vix butted in shortly after. 

“Hey, I was kidnapped too. I’ll eat my own tails before I let Slink get all of the credit for that.”

“Credit?” Lucy said giving the Vulpix a look of utter confusion with a bit of concern mixed in for flavor. “For getting kidnapped?” Obviously she hadn’t met Vix yet. 

Everyone was spared an awkward conversation as a tall, wooden barricade, much like the fence at the mountain’s base, came into view at the top of the next hill. There were several odd pictograms carved into the wood. Some, I recognized with a start, were Delphox runes. A set of banded double doors stood open at the center allowing for access into what I assumed was the village. A pair of Lucario stood guard, one at each door, their red eyes constantly scanning. 

“Hey Lucy,” one of them called as we got closer.

“Percy,” the Riolu grinned waving. “How is Janet?”

The guard laughed. “Still pregnant, but the egg is due any day now.” He looked at the five of us. “Who are your friends?”

Eve stepped forward. “We are Team Mindfire with the Expedition Society. _Please_ tell me that you are expecting us.”

The Lucario’s whole demeanor changed immediately. “Team Mindfire. Yes, go right through. Lucy will take you where you need to go. I probably don’t need to warn you guys, but make no trouble within these walls.”

“Relax Percy. I’ll get them where they need to go. Have a good day.”

“Phoenix?” I asked Lucy as we walked through the gate. In the back of my head, I couldn’t help but feel that I’d heard that name before. 

Lucy nodded. “My Grandfather. He’s the…” she paused, searching for the word, “chief? Mayor? Whatever you might call him, he’s the leader of the village. In fact he founded it.” 

It was only thirty yards or so between the gate and the village proper. It seemed a bit longer though as the village rested on the other side of the hill. From above we had a gorgeous view of the village. It was certainly a bit chaotic. It seemed that there was no rhyme or reason to how the houses were laid out. There were at least twenty houses. While they weren’t necessarily small they were simple buildings. Each was only a single story at most, and the majority couldn’t have been much larger than our apartment back home. 

There were only two buildings that were more complicated than that. The first was set in the center of the valley, and was one of the only two-story buildings in the village. It was also nearly four times the footprint of any of the other buildings. It was still built like the other houses, and looked mostly the same on the outside. There were two notable differences however. Hanging above the door was an intricately carved Expedition Society logo. I’d later find out that while Phoenix and his family lived there this sign marked it as an inn for Society members who visited the village. The second was another carving, this time in the door, of a three-toed paw wreathed in flames. It took me a second to recognize it, but I remembered seeing that symbol in one of the old ledger books. I couldn’t remember what Team it belonged to though.

The second was a far more massive structure tucked into the base of the hill opposite us. Looking at it compared to the houses in the village was like seeing a Wailord among Joltik. The only way I could describe it is a castle. It was made of stone with towering walls on each side. The front doors were massive, about the same size as the doors we had just passed through. There was a tower at each corner of the triangular structure, each with a Lucario on top, scanning. I was simply awed by the size of it.

Lucy led us through the village, passing closely by the massive house in the center. As we walked I noticed even more Lucario and Riolu wandering around. A few kids, smaller than Vix, played with a ball in the center of an improvised court, goalposts marked by sticks and stones. A pair of older Lucario sat in the doorway of a house. One was reading a book, the other wrote frantically on an already lengthy scroll. We even ducked past a pair of older Lucario who were tossing spheres of blue fire to each other, juggling up to ten at a time. I could feel the power radiating off of them. The energy of Aura was close to Psychic, but still felt alien.

“Is the entire village Lucario?” I asked.

Lucy glanced back at me, and then pointed off towards one of the houses. I looked over and saw a Sawsbuck playfully chasing a Deerling. “Not entirely, but we do make up a little less than half of the population. Of course most of us are related, just one big tribe. Although our numbers do attract other Lucario from around the world. A few families here are retired Society members, a couple are families that moved here from Serene Village. Grandfather just trusts his family to do most of the guard duties.”

The walls of the fortress loomed tall over us as Lucy directed us towards it. I could feel the scrutinizing glare of the guards as we passed through the gates. Part of me was a bit scared to wonder what they would have done had Lucy not been with us. I knew I had a double type advantage, but something told me that they could destroy me far before I could even get a move out. I shivered just a little as we passed into the castle. 

Once through the walls we were truly able to witness the scale of the place. An enormous stone courtyard took up most of the space, but there was a sturdy stone keep on the other end. I couldn’t help but notice that there was enough room within the walls for the population of the village to gather here. Four times over! There were several faded tents scattered across the grounds. They didn’t seem to be neglected, they actually seemed to just be permanent features. There were several lamps throughout the place with streams of colorful flags fluttering between them. On this side of the wall there were stairs that lead to the walkways above. The once-squared edges had been worn smooth with years of foot traffic.

“What is this place?” Eve asked looking around. 

“Grandfather designed it as a shelter. If the village is ever attacked we can all shelter here indefinitely. We have enough food and water to survive in here for months. Since it is also the largest open space in the village, we also use it as a market, a school, and we have monthly town meetings here.” She gestured at the keep. “Grandfather does most of his business here.”

We entered the keep, and it was just as grand as the outside. The main doors opened up into a luxurious auditorium. I guessed this was the school Lucy was talking about. We followed Lucy through a side door and down a corridor. We passed several staircases, but Lucy just kept us headed towards the back corner of the fort. Finally we arrived at a very intricately carved stone door. I couldn’t quite make out all of the images. At the very top there was an odd pyramid. Below that, most of the door was covered by a large carving of a tree. For a moment, I felt a shiver down my spine, remembering the Hatred’s skeletal tree symbol. This tree was lush and alive, seeming to stretch out from the stone. 

A single Lucario stood before the door. His steely glare followed us as we approached. “What business do you have here?” he called once we got close enough.

Lucy simply laughed. “Really dad? Come on.”

His stoic expression only softened slightly. “Sorry sunshine, it’s protocol. Besides, I am more concerned about the others.”

I stepped up this time. “We are Team Mindfire,” I said, turning so he could clearly see the symbol stamped on the side of my bag. The Lucario’s eyes grew large, looking at the symbol and then at me.

“Of course. He’s been expecting you. One moment, let me see if he is ready for you.” He placed his palm on the door, the tassles about his neck levitating slightly, a sheen of blue flame flickering around them. A moment later he opened his eyes. As his paw left the door it swung open silently. “This way please, but keep quiet. Phoenix is currently meeting with someone.”

For a moment, I thought we had passed outside of the fortress again. The floor had turned back to grass, I could see open sky above, and the area we had entered into was crowded with trees. The more I looked though, the more I realized we were simply in a giant terrarium. Thick stone walls enclosed the triangular space. Above a clear glass dome let in sunlight, but kept the area enclosed. From the moment we entered, the gurgle of running water filled the space, probably how all of the plant life survived. 

Through the trees there was a roughly circular pool of water. At the center a single protrusion of stone extended out with a fountain of water spilling from the tip. A dozen streams spilled out from the pool, criss-crossing the garden before reaching the base of the wall where the water cascaded into a deep trench dug there. A simple chair was carved into the finger of stone, and on it sat a Lucario.

The few silver streaks among his blue fur was the only indication of his age. His form was still impeccably muscled, his red eyes still keen and clear. A gold badge, much like the one Ampharos had worn, gleamed on his chest beside his razor-sharp spike. He sat forward on the throne, his paws pressed together firmly as he listened to the Meinshao standing before him. There was a gravity to his presence, a sense of aged wisdom and authority that made me feel smaller in his presence. At the same time though, his expression attempted to subvert this image. His muzzle seemed perpetually split into a mirthful smile, and there was a gleam of mischief in his eyes.

Lucy’s father directed us to wait by a tree while the Lucario and Meinshao finished their discussion. The Lucario briefly looked in our direction, but quickly returned his attention to the Meinshao. At least he seemed to. I felt his gaze linger on me, and it didn’t leave. Every time I looked up at him, I met those red eyes. I shifted uncomfortably, moving a bit closer to Eve and Vix.

Finally it was our turn. Lucy’s father led the six of us forward so that we were standing at the edge of the spring. Vaguely, I wondered how the Lucario made it to the chair given there was no walkway connecting to the shore. He stood, an almost childish grin splitting his muzzle as he swept his arms wide in welcome. “Ah, you’ve arrived. I’ve been expecting you. I must say, you made it here faster than I could’ve expected.” His voice was higher than I would have imagined, but there was a warmth to it. My muscles relaxed as he spoke. I felt safe. “I am Phoenix. May I please have your names?”

We introduced ourselves quickly, Eve going last. After she gave her name she continued on. “Mr. Phoenix, er sir, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but...may I ask why you asked us to come here?”

“Just call me Phoenix, Eve. And questions aren’t rude. They are questions. You may ask as many as you like. Feel free to speak openly with me. But to answer your question, I called your team here for two reasons.” He regarded us, but again his gaze landed on me and lingered for quite a while. “First, I wanted to finally meet the team that I sponsored.”

As he said those words, a spark of Psychic passed between Eve and me. A shared memory of Kegan’s words flickering through our heads. _Phoenix._ How had I not recognized the name earlier? “You’re the one who got our application approved.” 

The old Lucario nodded. “Yes, and I see that I made the right choice. I truly am impressed at what you have been able to achieve in such a short time. Especially considering how many run-ins you’ve had with the Hatred.”

"But why us?” Eve asked? “What made you approve us?” At this Phoenix sank back into his chair. 

“Ah, there are a few reasons for that. First, I was impressed with the three of you. I was there when Kegan brought in your application. I was the one who did your background check. A Fennekin who had already escaped the Hatred, an Espeon who defied her village to save an innocent, and a Vulpix who hadn’t even existed in our records before that point. I figured that after all you’d been through, joining the Society would be easy in comparison. I believed that you’d do well.”

“And the other reasons?” I asked. His gaze locked onto me once again. He slouched in his chair, his smile turning tired. 

"Well, that is the other reason I asked you to come. Slink Fennekin, I needed to speak with you specifically. As soon as I read your name on that application, I knew I would need to talk with you. There are things you need to know.”

The rest of my team turned to look at me. Even Lucy was staring at me curiously. “Alright then,” I said nervously, “what did you need to tell me?”

The Lucario regarded me. “Ah, I think that is a conversation best had in private.” He waved his hand beckoning the Lucario from before, Lucy’s father, forward. “Slink, Lucy, I’d ask you to stay behind. The rest of you should go with Seth. He’ll take you to my house where you are more than welcome to stay the night. I’d love the opportunity to get to know you more.”

Before he had even finished speaking the rest of my team was grumbling about this sudden turn. Vix was staring at the Lucario angrily, Sierra’s eyes had gone wide, his head on a swivel between me and Phoenix. Abby was already on edge, and this just made things worse. She hunched down between Vix and her father, glancing over at Seth nervously. Lucy simply looked confused. Why had she been singled out to stay as well? 

“We’d really prefer to stay together,” Eve said cooly. She didn’t sound mad. Unless you knew her like I did.

Phoenix kept his eyes on me. “Slink, I think you’ll agree that this should be a private conversation. Especially considering that it concerns your quest.”

“Quest? What quest?” Even as I said the words, it dawned on me what the answer would be. I just couldn’t let myself believe it.

“Your quest to find the Dreamstone,” Phoenix answered simply.

“That doesn’t matter,” Vix snapped. “Eve already told you that we are sticking together. It doesn’t matter what you are talking about. Right Slink………Slink?”

I didn’t look back at her. “I think it is best that you guys go.” Shocked silence followed my words.

“But Slink,” Vix said, all of the Fire gone from her voice.

“Please, trust me on this. I won’t be gone long. But you, Abby, and Sierra need to go with Seth.” I turned and flashed her a smile. “It’ll be fine. Promise.”

“But what about-” Sierra put a paw on Vix’s shoulder stopping her.

“Come on. Let’s go get some food, and maybe a nap. I could definitely use some rest after the last couple of days.” The two kids begrudgingly allowed themselves to be ushered out of the room by Sierra. Eve however remained by my side.

“Eve, I’m sorry, but I must insist that you go. This discussion should remain between Slink, Lucy, and myself.”

“No,” I said firmly. “I want her to be here for this. Anything you have to tell me, you can say in front of her.”

Phoenix seemed to be calculating in his head. I felt a whisper of aura pass through us, briefly disrupting our connection. “Slink, I understand. But I still think it would be better-”

“What?” I snapped. “Do you think she isn’t trustworthy? I trust her with my life. I trust her with more than my life. She’s been helping me look for the Dreamstone since day one. She needs to be here for this.”

“This knowledge is dangerous,” Phoenix warned. “I know that won’t stop you Slink, but I wanted to keep as many of your team members out of danger as possible. I know that you know the Hatred is after the stone as well. Anyone who stands in the way will be in trouble.”

“I am aware of the danger,” Eve said calmly. “I just want to help Slink. If he wants me here, then I am staying. That is the end of it.”

Phoenix bit his lip, thinking, before nodding slowly. He chuckled when he spoke, “I forgot how powerful the bond between Expedition partners can be. And you two have more of a connection than usual.” He smiled, tilting his head back so he was looking up at the sky. “He’d have done the same for me after all,” he muttered to himself. 

After a moment he leaned forward, folding his hands beneath his chin with his elbows on his knees. “Alright, where to start?” He thought for a moment before speaking.

“You have to find the Dreamstone Slink. It is the only way to save your grandfather.”


	18. Phoenix

Silence followed his words. I was frozen, my mind spinning. My Grandfather had died when I was just a kid. I hardly remembered him. The only things I knew about the man were the few stories that my father had shared with me and the faintest glow of a memory. The faintest glimpse of his face. “How do you know my Grandfather, and what does he have to do with the Dreamstone?”

“At one time, I was the one who knew him best. We grew up together, fought alongside one another. We were brothers in all but blood.” Phoenix paused, as if deciding how best to move forward. “For a story like this it is best to start at the beginning.

“When I was a kid, I lived in the Village at the base of this Mountain. My father was a good man, but we were never truly close. The other children didn’t really like me either, now that I think about it. I was just a foolish child with one goal. More than anything, I wanted to join the Expedition Society and see the world.

“When I was thirteen another boy came to the village, seeming to appear out of nowhere. I saw him enter the village, trailing behind ol’ Nuzleaf, and I couldn’t help but feel a connection to him. When we met, that was when things started changing for the better.” Phoenix grinned at those words. “Well, when I say I met him, I really mean that I scared him out of his house and immediately kidnapped him to go on an adventure. It also doesn’t help that Gabite nearly killed us for trying to steal his treasure. To be fair, we only wanted to look.” The old Lucario smiled, chuckling at some long passed joke. “I’m amazed Slink even talked to me after that.”

I flinched as he said the name, for I knew he wasn’t addressing me. I’d known already that I had been named after my grandfather, but hearing someone else being called “Slink” felt a little surreal. “What was he like? My grandfather?” We shared a name, but I knew almost nothing about the man himself. 

The Lucario gave me a sympathetic smile. “We had a rocky start, I will admit, but he was the greatest Pokemon I ever met. He was brave and oh so stubborn, I don’t think I ever saw him give up on anything or anyone. I remember one night we snuck out in order to investigate some ghosts that were terrorizing the town. We came across a bunch of Litwick who had disguised themselves as Giratina. While the rest of us kids ran and hid, your grandfather marched right up to the legendary and told him to knock it off and leave the townspeople alone.” Phoenix chuckled to himself. “Actually, I think that was also the night he earned his nickname.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “He had a nickname?”

“You didn’t know. Your grandfather’s given name was actually John. But all those times we snuck out at night to go on adventures I would always make fun of the way he crawled through the shadows. One time when we were out with the other kids from school I called him ‘a little slink’. The name just kinda stuck after that. When we started at the Expedition Society, he even introduced himself as Slink. I still always called him John. Old habits die hard I guess.”

He smiled wistfully. “You look just like him, Slink. When you walked in here, I was suddenly a kid again sitting here with my best friend. I can’t even put into words how much he meant to me. I’d never really had a friend before, and more than that I’d never had anyone who believed in me like John did. That is why later that year, in the middle of the night, we ran away and joined the Expedition Society.”

Eve suddenly jumped in. “Wait, you said you were thirteen? But the Society won’t let you join until you are of age! What gives?” She actually sounded more than a little annoyed.

Phoenix nodded. “I guess you could say that John and I were both the exception and reason for that particular rule. We’d already met with the Society’s leader earlier that year, and had braved a dangerous Dungeon to return a precious object to him. Later, when we turned up on his doorstep, he gladly welcomed us to the Society. It was only a while later when...things started happening that he reinstated his age requirement, and even raised it.” He frowned. “Even then I thought he was making a mistake. Of course I didn’t want to put any more children in danger, but I also know that I needed the Society as an escape.”

“You’re not the only one,” Eve muttered to herself staring down at her feet. 

Whether Phoenix heard her or not he continued on. “We quickly rose through the ranks, traveling to other continents and meeting their own similar guilds. Your grandfather in particular became very familiar with The Paradise over on the Mist Continent. He always had a special relationship with them. I preferred this Continent. I personally gathered most of the Nexus’ information on the Water Continent. Well, with John’s help of course. We were members of the society and held seats on the administrative council up until the day your grandfather died. I’m technically retired, but I still hold my seat on the council.”

I didn’t want to be rude, but while this was interesting I wasn’t learning anything. What did any of this have to do with my grandfather? What did it have to do with the Dreamstone? Before I could say a single word though, Lucy got there first. “Why am I here? What does this have to do with me? And what the heck even is this Dreamstone? Did I miss something?”

Honestly I was curious about that too. We all were waiting for Phoenix’s response. “I promise, all will be explained. As for you granddaughter, you are here because this is your history as much as it is Slink’s. I feel you deserve to know. Besides, if you are to succeed me some day you will need to know these things. As for the Dreamstone, well in order to understand that you need to know more about John and I.” He paused for a moment. “Perhaps we should start at the Dark Matter disaster. Have any of you heard of that?”

Lucy shook her head, I shrugged noncommittally, but Eve was nodding. I raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. “I looked through some history books in our search. I wondered if any of the big disasters were connected to the Dreamstone. The stories were...interesting, but I didn’t think any of them were actually connected to the Dreamstone. Were you there for it?” She aimed the question at Phoenix who gave her a slight smile. 

“Yes I was there. John and I were the ones who fought it.”

His words seemed to echo through the garden, or perhaps they were simply repeating within my head. “Not many know what we accomplished,” the Lucario admitted, “in fact the only ones who do are you three, Lucy’s father, and Ampharos. We never wanted credit for it, we were simply doing what we had to. I’d like to think that anyone would have done the same in our place.

“You need to understand what happened with Dark Matter. It was so long ago, probably eighty years...or wait, was it eighty-six? Hmmm, either way the Society started receiving reports of Pokemon being turned to stone. Most of them were regular Pokemon, often ones who lived alone or near Dungeons. Reports came from around the world, but there was an abnormally large concentration here on the Water Continent. At first the Societies tried to keep things quiet so as not to cause a panic, but as more and more Pokemon kept disappearing it became impossible to keep that under wraps. Even the Legendaries were beginning to panic as it seemed that they weren’t safe either. Celebi and Dialga were the first to fall. Dark Matter apparently didn’t want anyone messing with time. Latios and Latias were the next to be turned. I know because I witnessed it.” Despite the grim subject, Phoenix wore a slight wistful grin. “Your grandfather was so excited to see them when they flew overhead. As a kid seeing a legendary was always exciting, and seeing two at a time was almost unheard of. It was a shock, for everyone I think, when we later found them in the woods encased in stone.

“That was when Ampharos got serious about finding the source. It took several months and a few false leads before we eventually figured out what was happening. Unfortunately Dark Matter knew our plans. It nearly killed John and I right where you are standing.” Eve and I flinched back as he pointed. Both of us shivering as a cloud crept over the quickly sinking sun. “We learned the truth right here, from a worn stone tablet that had been half-swallowed by the grass. This water, dubbed Luminous Water by some ancient Pokemon, was supposed to be a defense mechanism. It was the planet’s natural response to the Dark Matter. A single drop could restore any Pokemon turned to stone. Unfortunately, Dark Matter discovered this spring at the same time we did. It forced other Pokemon to drain the water from it. Once it had accomplished that, there was nothing to stop it from destroying the world.”

“What is- er- what was the Dark Matter?” I asked nervously, my tail flicking behind me. 

“I still don’t really know. I don’t think anyone does. It once told me that it was the collective negativity of all Pokemon in this world. The embodiment of all of our darkest emotions. Anger, disgust, fear… hate.” He shook his head. “But I think there is more to it. I think Dark Matter was a result of us repressing all of those emotions. Refusing to acknowledge them. Slink, you know as well as I do that there is nothing wrong with fear or anger. Those emotions can bring out both the best or the worst in any of us. They are both a part of life. The problem comes when we refuse to acknowledge them. When we refuse to feel them. When we keep them all bottled up inside instead of facing them and learning from these feelings. That, I think is what Dark Matter was.”

“How do you destroy something like that?” Eve said, almost to herself. 

“We almost didn’t,” the old Lucario admitted. “We were seconds away from oblivion, and I had lost all hope.” He turned to look at me, a frown across his muzzle. “But John, he never lost hope. He was seriously injured, one of his legs was broken along with several of his ribs. He had a gash in his side that had dyed all of his fur red. He could barely stand straight, but he still fought. That bravery, that stubborn determination to keep going, managed to crack Dark Matter’s shell. That was the moment when I finally realized how we could beat Dark Matter.

“I called out to it, and for a moment at least it paused. John had collapsed only moments before, finally passing out from his injuries. It was only me and the darkness. I was scared out of my mind, but I knew that this was the moment. I gave the Dark Matter the one thing it had never experienced. I gave it my acceptance, my understanding. I gave it what it could never get from the twisted emotions within it no matter how long it waited. Finally, I had acknowledged what I had been suppressing for so long, and what it had been feeding on. It shouldn’t have worked. It was simply a desperate ploy from a terrified child. Somehow though that moment of acceptance was just enough to cut off its connection with the negativity that the Pokemon of the world were supplying it with. Just for a moment. And a moment was all that I needed. Dark Matter was weak, and I used all of the strength I had left. I don’t think I destroyed Dark Matter, I don’t think anything on this planet could do that, but I shattered its consciousness. It was spread so thin that I am certain it could never become sentient again.”

The three of us were silent as we processed his words. My mind was spinning at this information. My father had talked about his father from time to time, but he had never mentioned my grandfather being a hero, much less one that had saved the world. When I looked over, I saw the same look on Lucy’s face. She was trying to process this new image of her grandfather same as me. I felt a surge of kinship towards the Riolu.

“Once it was defeated, all of the Pokemon that had been turned to stone were restored. Order was returned to the planet and, although we were...separated for a while, your grandfather and I returned to our lives. We worked hard, rising through the society as a team. We reached our Master ranks within eight years and were invited to become a part of the Society administration. Life was great, things were looking up for both of us, but I know that we both felt something was missing. There was something that kept eating at me the longer we explored. I couldn’t help but think of how close the planet had come to oblivion and what could have happened if John and I hadn’t been able to stop it. I knew that we both still had nightmares about Dark Matter.”

Lucy glanced at Eve and I, as if checking our reactions, before she turned to Phoenix. “You said you had eliminated Dark Matter. Why were you worried?”

“You are right. We both knew that Dark Matter was gone and wouldn’t be able to threaten the planet anymore. But we started doing research, and we discovered that calamities threatened the world every few centuries. First there was the great meteor, then the Time Disaster, the Bittercold, and finally the Dark Matter. Each and every time, the world was almost destroyed. We were also told that this wasn’t the first time Pokemon had been forced to fight Dark Matter. The two of us were simply astonished. How had nobody taken any precautions for when the next disaster inevitably came? That is why we resolved to change that. We disagreed on how to try and prevent another catastrophe, but we had finally found something to work for.”

He turned to Lucy smiling at her. “My idea was to create this village and this stronghold around the Revelation Spring. The Pokémon of Serene village were originally in charge of guarding this sacred place. However, not many of the villagers knew exactly what they were guarding. By the time anyone figured out what this water could do, most of the world was already stone. That is why I created this village. I requested that the Expedition Society classify it as a forbidden Dungeon so that Pokemon could only enter with the Society's permission. We don’t try to keep it a secret, that didn’t work the last time after all, but we also don’t want the wrong Pokemon knowing about us.” My mind immediately flashed to the Hatred, but then again why would they want to attack this village? I looked over at Lucy. Well, there was at least one reason.

Lucy must have been thinking along the same lines as me. “But Grandfather, if Dark Matter is gone why would this water ever be needed again? What else could turn Pokemon to stone?”

Phoenix nodded. “That is what I wondered at first. But the more I thought about it, the more I was certain this water needed to be protected. Not even the Legendaries know what threats this world might face in the future. Pokémon smarter than me have spent their whole lives studying the great calamities and still don’t know what might come next. Maybe sometime in the future we could be faced with a threat that can be averted with this water. And maybe this spring can do more than just reverse Pokemon being turned to stone. I have spent years sitting here, surrounded by it, attuned to its aura, and I still don’t know all of its secrets. Someday, I know that protecting this spring will save the world. I have to believe that.”

“And what did my grandfather do?” I aksed, a grain of desperation entering my voice. “Was he looking for the Dreamstone too?”

“Looking for it? No. He didn’t have to _look_. He created the Dreamstone!”

I froze, my stomach tingling. My grandfather had… my brain refused to even process the words. I was swarmed with questions once again. Did my dad know about this? Why didn’t he ever tell me? Did this mean that Phoenix would know where it was? He had to, right? “Please, tell me. Where is it? What are these crystals? Please.”

“Hold on a moment Slink. I know some things, but not everything. John never kept secrets from me, except when it came to the Dreamstone. I know that it is on the Mist Continent but I don’t know any more than that.” He paused for a moment. “You mentioned crystals? Do you have them with you? May I see them?”

I nodded, shrugging the bag off of my shoulder so that I could more easily dig into it. Behind me, I heard a soft _whump_ as Eve did the same. After we had figured out that the Hatred was also after the crystals and the Dreamstone, neither of us were really comfortable carrying all of them. Eve carried the first crystal, the one we had received from Leo, while I carried the pair we had received from the Hatred base. That way, at least theoretically, if the Hatred caught me again, they wouldn’t have all three of the crystals.

A small bolt of nervous energy filled my stomach as I watched Eve dig through her bag out of the corner of my eye. I could only hope that Eve wouldn’t notice Vix’s theft. Or perhaps the Vulpix hadn’t stolen anything yet. Either way I tried to act natural as I eventually extracted the two shards from my bag, setting them on the ground as close to the pool as I could. Eve produced hers only a few moments later.

Phoenix had to stand in order to see them. I felt a little awkward, but Psychic didn’t work on the crystals so it wasn’t like I could levitate them so that he could see better. “Three,” the Lucario said simply. “Excellent. That makes things much easier. Listen carefully, all of you. John created a powerful artefact and hid it within a Dungeon. However, he didn’t trust any Society to protect the secret of what he had made. He put...other security measures in place. Namely, he made four crystal keys that you would need to leave the Dungeon as well as access the Dreamstone.”

Four keys. “Where is the last one then? How are we supposed to find it?”

“Calm down Slink. John gave the keys to very specific people, those he trusted.” I could only watch breathlessly as he reached around to the side of his throne, pulling a cloth-wrapped bundle from a natural crevice in the stone. He unwrapped it carefully before revealing a perfectly-clear, perfectly-smooth, piece of crystal. “I hold the final key. Lucy, would you please give this to Slink for me?”

With a single quick bound, the golden Riolu leapt across the pond, landing gracefully on the arm of the stone chair. Phoenix carefully tipped the crystal into Lucy’s paw. A shudder ran through her body the instant it touched her. I remembered the pulse of energy I felt every time I touched one of the keys for the first time. I was not excited for that. 

Lucy took off again, this time landing only a few feet from me. She took a few measured steps towards me, weighing the crystal in her hand. Before she reached me, she stopped. She pinched the crystal between two of her toes and held it up so the sun caught it. The clear shard seemed to glow from within with a warm, golden light. “This is supposed to be a key? I don’t see it. Whatever lock this has must be pretty strange?”

Phoenix laughed. “The shape isn’t that important, the power within is the true key. Of course the shape isn’t so odd. Just ask Slink.”

I flinched. What the heck was he talking about? I only found out they were keys twenty seconds ago. How was I supposed to know what their shape ment? Lucy seemed just as baffled, but she passed me the final crystal regardless. 

The instant it touched my paw, the familiar electric jolt of energy coursed through me. Instead of the tiny zap I was used to though, this was a constant stream of energy that exploded off of the key and forced itself into me. I felt the other keys too in that moment. They were like a Psychic presence, I could feel energy streaming off of them and joining with the energy of the crystal in my paw.

For the briefest moment, an image exploded within my mind’s eye. It was a temple perched atop a seaside cliff. Waves crashed against the rock walls, spray shooting up even higher than the clifftops. The temple was cut from pale red stone, the entire thing covered in plant life. Nature doing its best to reclaim the unnatural structure. Two trees, a towering pine, and a skinny aspen guarded the entrance. The stone arch was wreathed with ivy, shoots of grass forcing their way through the cobbled stones that made up the exterior courtyard. The place was gorgeous, but something stood out. Something that distracted from the natural beauty of the place. A shape, a symbol carved into the stone above the arch. A… familiar shape.

I gasped as the vision faded, my muscles finally relaxing after having been tense as a wire for what had seemed like hours. My knees buckled, the key dropping from my paw, landing right next to its siblings. _Where it belongs_ a voice whispered in the back of my mind. 

“Slink?” Eve’s face was lined with worry. “Are-are you okay? What happened?”

“I...the shock...it was different this time. More powerful. I...I saw…” My tongue seemed too large in my mouth, and even if I could speak, I had no idea how to describe what I had experienced. 

It was then I realized that, for the first time since we had entered the room, Phoenix was no longer on the throne. He was standing behind Lucy, off to the side. He looked concerned, but there was a deeper, almost desperate look in his eyes. “What did you see?” He whispered.

“A… a cliff. By the sea. And a... a temple…” I rubbed a paw between my ears as I tried to sort through everything I had seen. “And… and…”

That symbol. Suddenly it clicked, all of the pieces finally coming together. How had I missed it before? “Eve, I need the crystals. All of them.”

She eyed me warily. “Slink are you sure? What if-?”

“I’ve already touched all of them. None of them should jolt me anymore. Please Eve, this is important.”

We locked eyes, her gem flickering for just a moment before she pushed all four of the crystal shards towards me. I’d only ever looked at them individually, so I never truly noticed or appreciated how similar they all were. Two of them, Leo’s and one from the Hatred’s base, were smooth along one side and spiked across the other. The other two were perfectly smooth all around. All of them shared the same general characteristics though. All had an elliptical cross section, the shape narrowing and curving like a Tauros horn along its length. I’d never thought of putting them together, especially not in the shape I’d seen on the temple.

Carefully I arranged them, the pieces fitting together to form what was almost a circle. The left half was perfectly smooth with a sharp, square tip. The right’s jagged protrusions resembled a flame. Eve’s eyes widened as I assembled the hauntingly familiar shape.

Our team symbol.

“Phoenix...how…?” I just couldn’t figure it out. How in the hell….

The Lucario grimaced. “He knew. Your grandfather knew that someday the one who would need the Dreamstone would carry this symbol, so he chose this symbol as well. Have you ever stared into the Flames, Slink?”

I shook my head. “Only Delphox can do that. I’ve never had the chance...yet.” My dad told me all the time about staring into our flames. With a lot of concentration a Delphox could use Psychic to reach through their flames and view glimpses of the future. Since this process involved both incredible power and a small amount of enchanting, there was no chance I could do it. At least not as a Fennekin.

“John was particularly gifted, or should I say cursed, with that ability. I cannot remember how many times while we were traveling I would wake up to find him slumped over beside a still-crackling campfire. He saw something Slink, something bad, but he refused to tell me about it. It scared him though. More than even the Dark Matter had.

“Something changed in him that day. That rock-solid determination I had admired in him seemed to block everything else out. He only ever told me that something bad was coming, but he knew how to fix it.

“At first we traveled, searching for Legends. Why? I had no idea. John insisted though that what he needed could only come from a Legendary. Because of what we had accomplished during the Dark Matter disaster, most of them at least granted us an audience. John often asked them for a private word, but from what I gathered they all refused to help.”

“Why would that be?” Lucy asked incredulously. “After Slink’s grandpa explained about whatever he was concerned about, wouldn’t they want to help him?”

The old Lucario chuckled. “I’ve spent more time in the presence of Legendaries than most other Pokemon. I guess you could say that I have a unique perspective on them. The thing is that the Legends do care what happens in this world, but they really cannot do anything to help it. They have phenomenal power, but they can only use it to defend themselves or to maintain their domain. If I had to guess, I’d say this was Arceus trying to avoid infighting amongst his children and an attempt to prevent them from abusing their power. Of course in that case, I have no idea why Arceus is also bound by these rules. The legendaries also have great responsibility. They must constantly maintain the world order. If they get too distracted, even worse disasters than the Dark Matter would follow. They cannot afford to become distracted with what are, comparatively, trivial matters. That is why they only ever intervene when things threaten them or if the planet will truly collapse without their intervention. They also cannot directly battle other Legendaries. For the most part they let us mere mortals settle things ourselves.

“Anyway, we visited every continent, found every Legendary, but none of them were willing to help him. John became more dejected and worried with every one that turned us away. I was concerned for him, but despite everything we had been through he refused to confide in me. There was one thing he did ask me for though. He asked to speak to my other half.”

“Your other hal -- you mean your mate?” Eve asked. “Why would he speak to her, but not to you?”

“No not my mate. I actually hadn’t met her when John approached me about this. I truly do mean my other half.” The Lucario paused, twisting one of his tassels between his fingers. “This will probably take a bit of explaining, so perhaps it would be easier show you.” He muttered to himself. He pressed his paws together, bowing his head and closing his eyes.

“Grandfather?” I jumped at Lucy’s voice. Her tone telling me immediately that this wasn’t normal. Phoenix didn’t even look up as she spoke. His aura sensors had lifted off of the nape of his neck, but no aura had appeared around him. I could sense it though, building within him. The air around his paws began to shimmer, flickers of color sparking off of his spikes . Suddenly blue flames exploded along his arms and across the back of his neck. 

The aura spread quickly, up his arms, down his back, consuming his legs and tail. Slowly the power rose up to surround his neck, inching to cover his head like a hood. Just before he was fully consumed his eyes flew open, his red irises blazing. The aura continued to grow, becoming so thick that the blue color completely fused with his fur. I couldn’t tell where one began, and the other ended. Soon he was simply a glowing mass of blue. 

The energy started to swirl, the cloud that used to be a Lucario churning as it pulled closer into a column. The three of us were frozen in shock, unsure what to do. The aura condensed, pulling into a point about four feet from the ground. It also started to shift color. Purple, maroon, red, pink. From deep within the cloud of aura a pair of eyes blinked open. They weren’t Phoenix’s. They were now a bright sky blue, like Phoenix’s fur had been. Slowly the rest of the creature formed.

A pair of pointed ears solidified atop a rounded head. Two stubby arms were relaxed over its chest while its powerful hind legs were curled to its belly. A long whip-like tail lashed behind it as it hovered, nearly twice the length of its body. It was a Pokemon only spoken of in legends. The three of us never expected to see her for ourselves, yet there she was. Mew.

As soon as she appeared though, Mew fell, landing sprawled on her back in the grass. A small _oof_ escaped her mouth as the air was forced from her lungs. The legend blinked softly, seeming to be gaining her bearings. Her small blue eyes finally focused on us, slowly blinking closed. “Sorry about this,” she said softly, “transforming takes a lot out of us.”

“Us?” Lucy asked through gritted teeth. Her paws were clenched, small blue sparks dancing across the metal plates on the backs of them.

“Yes, us.” Mew replied. Her voice softer than I had imagined and oh, so soothing. It had an echoing quality to it, sounding like raindrops dripping one by one into a puddle. “Lucy, Sunshine, please calm down. There is nothing to fear.” Lucy flinched at the use of the term of endearment. The thing was though, it felt perfectly natural coming out of Mew’s mouth. It was like she had said it a thousand times before.

Mew sat up, but not by much. She just curled herself in the reclined position that seemed like a natural pose for her. Eve and I both shivered as a wave of potent Psychic energy burst from her as she began to float. “Apologies for the shock, especially you Granddaughter, but I agree this was the best way to explain our nature to you.” She gave a small smile, but then froze as her entire form flickered, her outline becoming fuzzy for a moment The Psychic power that had filled the room vanished for a moment, leaving the air feeling dead and still. “We must hurry,” she gasped as soon as she had reformed, “Phoenix cannot hold this form for long.” 

We? Our? “Are you Phoenix? Or is he you?” I couldn’t think of anything else to ask. I was far too focused on who, or more accurately what, this creature was?

“I am Phoenix, and he is me. We are both distinct, and yet he cannot exist without me. Allow me to explain. I fought Dark Matter several thousand years ago, the first time. And despite the best efforts of myself, a human, and several other tenacious Pokemon, we nearly lost. All we were able to do was force the Darkness back to sleep. When I felt it awakening again, I knew that we wouldn’t be able to pacify it. It had been gaining power for centuries. It would be do or die this time. We needed a better plan. I summoned the human that had helped me before, but I knew I couldn’t help him as a Legendary. Phoenix told you of the limitations my kind face. I couldn’t use my full power against Dark Matter as a Legendary. So I came up with a plan. 

“I crafted a mortal vessel, an infant Riolu, and fused with him to provide him life. At that point he was nothing more than my mindless puppet. A body without a soul, simply piloted by me. As he grew though, I found that he was doing things without me controlling him. It started small. A step there, a word there. I’d find him playing with toys I hadn’t desired, going places I hadn’t wanted. Worse, the more control he gained, the less of myself I could find. As the years went by, Mew slowly faded to be replaced almost fully by Phoenix. He retained something of myself, my knowledge of ancient languages, and a… gravitation to John. When Dark Matter had been defeated, Lady Xerneas woke me up. I returned to myself, casting away the form I had created. But, I could still sense Phoenix within me. 

“John, bless him, sought me out. He spent a year of his life searching for me, for a way to get his friend, his brother, back. I had thought Phoenix was gone, but just seeing John again seemed to wake him up within me. My vessel had developed his own soul, something that I alone could never create or destroy. John, Phoenix, and I struck a deal. I would return to Phoenix and restore him so that he may live a full, mortal life. In return, I would retain my sense of self and gain an in-depth look at ordinary life.”

Mew opened her mouth to keep speaking, but froze, her face twisting into a grimace. Her outline flickered, growing fuzzy. The tips of her ears, tail, and toes all dissolved back into pink aura. She growled deep in her throat, and despite her soothing voice it was a primal sound full of power. Her image snapped back together instantly, but she dipped in the air slightly, losing altitude. “Phoenix can’t hold this form much longer. I have to change back soon.”

“Wait, what did my grandfather need from you?” 

Mew nodded. “Yes. He needed my help with the Dreamstone. He… asked for some of my energy and… bound it into a… physical form. He needed something that could do… anything. He figured if I could… create… Phoenix or… bring him to this… world… I was the only one… who could help.” She grimaced. “Sorry, but I can’t-“

Before she could get out another word, her whole body dissolved back into aura. The whole process reversed itself, the now blue cloud of aura condensing into a taller figure. Phoenix let out a gasp as he solidified before collapsing to his knees. 

This time, Lucy ran to her grandfather’s aid, her paw glowing with a pulsing pink light, but before she could reach him, Phoenix held up a paw. “Thank you Lucy, but I am fine. Just drained. I’ll be okay in a moment. Just let me catch my breath.” He forced himself to focus on me. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I could have sworn that there were a few more grey hairs dotted around his muzzle. “Where were we? Oh right, Mew was telling you about your grandfather’s request. The first step on his journey.”

My heart leapt into my throat. The old Lucario looked like he was about to pass out, and he was in this state now just because he had answered my question. “Phoenix, please. We don’t have to do this now if you aren’t feeling up to it. Don’t...wear yourself out on my account.”

The Lucario smiled weakly and shook his head. “John asked me to give you this information. That means I’d do anything to fulfill it. But I also have my own personal stake in all of this. I’m fine Slink. Now let’s move on.

“Once he had Mew’s power bound into the stone, he then needed a place to keep it. A place where it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. He found his haven in the wilderness of the Mist Continent, on a tall cliff by the shore. It is completely inaccessible except by the Dungeon that guards it. Even Flying Types can’t reach it. But your grandfather never intended for the place to remain a secret. That was when he eventually told me another part of his vision. He knew that one day a Fennekin would desperately need the stone, so he developed a plan that would ensure that he would be able to grant that Fennekin access. He built a village, only a few houses and shops to start with, and would distribute his keys to any Delphox, Briaxen, or Fennekin whom he could trust. I guess he assumed that one of their descendants would be the one to use the Dreamstone.” Phoenix shot me an impish grin. “I guess, in a way, he was right.

“The first key he gave to a Delphox on the sand continent. The Pokemon had guided him when he was searching for me or, rather, Mew. For years, John would swear that this Delphox was the only reason why he had ever found me again. That is why he had entrusted him with one of his precious keys. The second he gave to a Delphox he had met during the Decicentennial Council, a representative of The Paradise over on the Mist Continent. I’m almost certain they were involved for a time, but eventually she returned to the Mist Continent.” I had to take a step back at that point. The more I listened to the story, the more I felt a strange tingle in my stomach. Familiarity? Had I heard something like this before? 

Eve bumped my shoulder with her tail. “Slink you don’t think… Xen?” My stomach seemed to jump. 

“But didn’t Xen say that the Delphox from the Water Continent was her…” I was at a loss for words. Were Xen and Ash my...cousins? Second cousins? Half-second cousins? Did I still have living family? Phoenix didn’t allow me too much time to dwell on this. He continued on quickly.

“The third, of course, he kept for himself and his family. He eventually passed it onto your father when he moved to the Fire Continent.”

“Wait,” Eve interrupted, “we found all of the keys. How come none of the owners were in that village? And why doesn’t anyone know where it is?”

Phoenix nodded. “Unfortunately John’s dream never came true. Nobody ever lived in that village. All that is left is a crumbling ruin I’m afraid. Things all started to fall apart while John was searching for a home for the final key. He was visiting your father at the time when the Expedition Society discovered the body of a Delphox just outside of a Dungeon south of Festive Town. He had undoubtedly been murdered, which is alarming enough, but then John found out that this was the Delphox who had held the first key. Nobody could actually find the key either, although John suspected he had desperately tossed it into the Dungeon with his dying breath.”

“South of Festive Town? Was it at the base of the Scale Mountains?” Phoenix nodded. I glanced at Eve and I knew we were both on the same page. That must be the key that Leo had found.

“The Society never found out who had killed the Delphox, but John was certain that he had been trying to find him when he had been killed. The Delphox had known about the village and the secret it held, so John could only assume that whoever had killed him now knew about the village too. Thankfully nobody other than your grandfather knew the exact location, so even if they got a single key they wouldn’t be able to find the Dreamstone. Still, he didn’t want to put anyone else in danger by sending them to the hidden village. John died just a couple of months later in Festive Town. At least he got to spend his final days with his son. Before that though, John traveled to the Mist Continent and warned his other family, telling them to keep the key safe and secret until a Fennekin eventually came to claim it. Finally he came to me and passed the final key into my care. He said that he knew he could trust me to keep it safe. He was certain that if someone came looking, I would be able to explain everything to them.”

We were all silent for a moment, each of us trying to process the story now that it had, finally, come full circle. “You said that finding the Dreamstone was the only way to save my grandfather. What did you mean by that?”

Phoenix shook his head. “That would be my personal stake in this matter. Your grandfather’s soul was brought to this world from another by Mew and implanted into the body of a Fennekin. He chose to remain in this world for the rest of his life, but in order for him to… move on… he would have to pass back into the world he came from first. Our auras are so inextricably linked that I felt it when he finally passed from this world, and I felt it as his soul passed back to his own. What I didn’t expect was for John’s soul to get stuck in the in between. That stubborn determination of his still follows him even in death. He refuses to move on until his mission is complete, until what he saw comes to pass. He’ll remain in limbo there for eternity if that is what it takes. He was a hero, and my best friend. Please Slink, I beg of you. Find the Dreamstone so that he can finally be free.”

By this point the sun had long dipped beneath the walls of the fortress, but it was still just as bright within the garden. Light spilled from the pool same as water, it looked as if golden dust had been diffused into the pool. Luminous Water, Phoenix had called it. “I think that is enough for tonight.” He finally said, his legs wobbling slightly as he stood up. “I can’t imagine your father has started on dinner yet Lucy, but we shouldn’t make Seth or our other guests wait any longer.” He tried to take a step, but his legs buckled beneath him. He caught himself, landing on all fours. 

“Grandfather!” Lucy rushed forward, but once again Phoenix held up a paw to stop her.

“I am fine Sunshine. Truly I am. I just need a few minutes to rest. Why don’t you go ahead? Let your father know that I’ll be along in a while.”

The Riolu looked uncertain more than anything. “But...are you sure you’d be able to make it home by yourself?”

“I’ll stay with him.” I nodded to the older Lucario. “He can guide me to where we need to go, and I’ll make sure he gets there.”

Lucy stared at me, looking as though she desperately wanted to say no, but couldn’t think of a reason. “So I guess Eve and I-”

“Actually, I think I’ll stay with Slink.” Eve smiled reassuringly at Lucy. “We’ll be right behind you, just as soon as Phoenix gets back on his feet. I promise.”

The Riolu still seemed reluctant, but she nodded. “Okay. See you in a few minutes then.” With that, she took off into the trees, vanishing quickly in the shadows.  
  
Phoenix started laughing. “I love that child, but she seems to think that she is my Wonder Guardian. Whenever something happens, she’s there. Thinks I can’t run this village without her. Of course, that is why I chose her to be my heir.” 

“She seems sweet,” Eve began, a small smile on her face. “Say, how did the rest of the village react when she was born? I mean, having a shiny around…?”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow at that. “What does the color of her fur have to do with anything? The village celebrated the birth of my granddaughter the way they would any other birth.” He sighed. “I do understand why you ask though. I’m not completely blind to what is happening on the Fire Continent. I understand we are far more… isolated here, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t seen the prejudice that the rest of the world has. There have been some guests in this village that haven’t been invited back.”

“I wish that was how everyone treated shinies,” Eve muttered to herself. “Sorry for asking, but after watching Abby face that kind of prejudice, I’d hate to see it happen to another sweet girl. You know, I hope she and Vix don’t spend too much time together. They’ll either be best friends, or they’d tear eachother apart.” I laughed along with Eve, but it didn’t take us too long to realize that Phoenix wasn’t. He wasn’t even smiling.  
  
“Actually, that is what I’d like to talk to you about.” The Lucario said softly. He stood quickly, faster than the stumble before would have led me to believe. “Lucy is nearly fourteen years old. She’s only ever left the village for short errands, and even then she has only ever been down in Serene Village. Once she went with me to Lively Town, but that was years ago. I want my granddaughter to see more of this world before she comes back here and runs this village for the rest of her life.”

“What are you asking?” I said. I had a feeling I knew what was coming, but I wanted to be sure.

“She’s expressed interest in the Expedition Society in the past, and you guys are the only team I trust with my granddaughter. Would you be willing to take her onto your team? At least for a year or so? Understand that I don’t want to pressure you into anything. This is entirely your decision.”

I glanced back at Eve. I didn’t want to say anything without her opinion. Honestly, I thought that Lucy would be a fantastic addition to the team, but I wasn’t the only team leader.

“Would...would she be going back with us this trip?” Eve asked, weighing each word carefully. “Because if so I’m not sure we can.” 

Phoenix cocked his head. “Why do you say that? Is it the Lapras? A money problem?”

“No, not at all.” Eve frowned. “There are two things sir, first… you know that the Hatred has attacked us several times? With intent to capture or kill? Lucy could get seriously hurt if she’s with us. Are you sure we are the right team?” 

“Sorry to answer a question with a question, but is your team still together despite these attacks?”

“Well… yes, but-”

“Then yes, you are the perfect team for her. Despite the attacks you have kept one-another safe.”

“Earlier this year, Slink and Vix got kidnapped! We barely got them out in time? We haven’t kept each other safe. Not enough!”

“But you did save them. Kegan told me about how well your assault on the Hatred base worked Eve. Besides, if you have Lucy with you, you should have an easier job of keeping away from them. I’m not worried about her. I know the danger, but as long as she is with you I know you will keep her safe. Now what was the second reason? Maybe I can ease your worries there as well.”

Eve bit her lip, blushing a bit through her fur. “It’s just...I’m not sure we have the room for her. Our apartment is pretty much packed to capacity. It isn’t fair to make Lucy sleep on the couch, but we don’t have any place else for her.”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow grinning. “Is that all? Well, I have a solution for that as well. He walked back to the spring, hopping across like he was simply stepping over a puddle. He leaned down and reached into another cavern that had been carved into his throne. He quickly withdrew an aged scroll and a small gold key. Just as easily he leapt back across and handed the page to me. 

“What is this?” I said. I would’ve unrolled the paper, but it felt so brittle that I was afraid it would crumble if I did much to it.

“A deed,” Phoenix said simply, “to an estate just south of Festive Town. When the Fire Continent was first discovered, John and I quickly commissioned a home to be our base on that Continent. You have to realize that the Expedition Society HQ took a few years to build while this house was built in a month. I held onto this for your father along with the keys. He gave it to me thirteen years ago, asking that I give it to you if you ever found your way here.”

“Thirteen years ago?” I echoed. “I remember us moving when I was a kid. Is that where we lived? Did my dad ever tell you why we moved?”

“When he came to me with the deed, he told me that he wanted to get out of the city.” He spread his hands wide, gesturing towards the building around us. “I couldn’t blame him. Plus it was just after John’s death. I’m sure your father wanted to get away as well. Either way, I will never leave this village, so I won’t be using it. Slink and Lucy have every right to the house, and they are the ones who need it. Otherwise it will probably just stay empty.” The Lucario grinned at me. “Consider it twenty years of birthday presents, from the uncle who was never there.” He stretched, raising his arms over his head. “If that is settled, let’s head home. Seth is a fantastic cook. We don’t want to keep anyone waiting.”

We spent a few more days in Revelation Village. Lucy and Phoenix both seemed equally excited to show us around. While there wasn’t much to see within the village, the villagers themselves were very accommodating even when Eve and I took a walk without either of them. I’m sure that in a single day we received a dozen offers to come in for tea. 

The village children were fascinated by Vix and Abby. It was probably the novelty of having new playmates. We hardly saw them since they were always away with the other kids. Sierra was especially happy to see them go, simply because no child had ever talked about Abby being shiny. I’m sure that at least part of Sierra wanted to stay if only for that reason. 

Eventually though, we had to go back home. We’d spent five days in the village, not counting the day we had arrived. The night before, Phoenix had explained to Lucy that we wanted her to join our team. To say she was excited was an understatement. “Really, you mean it!” She said to us with an enormous grin on her face. “I always wanted to join the Expedition Society like grandfather did.” She grinned at me. “And better yet I get to go with you guys. What do you say cousin… er Slink?”

I smiled back. “Slink is fine, and we’d be glad to have you. Really.” I didn’t know yet if I was comfortable with her calling me “cousin”, but that was something we could figure out later. 

The time came, and it seemed that everyone in the village came to see us (or more likely to see Lucy) off. They gathered outside their houses, waving the whole way between Phoenix’s house and the gates to the village. The Lucario himself as well as Lucy’s parents walked with us, stopping just outside the gates for a final goodbye. Lucy’s parents were tearful as they bid their daughter goodbye, while she seemed more excited than sad. I had a feeling that she would get homesick at some point, but for right now she looked like she was about to run down the mountain whether we were with her or not.   
  
“Slink,” Phoenix said, pulling me to the side. “I have one more thing that I’d like to give you. “ From around his neck he pulled a phial suspended on a thin gold chain. The small bottle had been corked and sealed with wax, the liquid inside appearing to be water. Still, even in the shadow of his hand, a faint glow emanated from the liquid. “This is my emergency stash of Luminous Water. It may look like very little, but if anything happens I am sure it will be invaluable to you. I hope you will never need it, but I can’t let you go without taking any.”

I stared at the bottle nervously. “Do… do you think I’ll encounter Dark Matter?” Why else would he be giving me it?

“Not necessarily, but like I said I have no idea what this water is capable of. Call me paranoid, but I’d rather you have it. Just in case.”

He pressed the tiny bottle into my paw letting the fine chain cascade into my paw. I carefully packed it into the secret pocket within my bag. “Thank you Phoenix. I hope I get to see you again some day.”

Instead of responding, Phoenix got down on his knees and pulled me into a hug. I was tense at first, but there was something familiar about the embrace that forced me to relax into it. It reminded me of my dad’s hugs. I missed that.

Eventually though goodbyes were done, and the six of us started off down the mountain. We were headed home.   
  
It took us three days to reach Lively Town again where our Lapras and ship were waiting for us. We set sail at sunset. I stood at the back of the ship next to Lucy, both of us watching the Continent slowly sink below the horizon. We had spent so little time there, and yet just like her I couldn’t help but feel as though I was leaving home. I stayed there watching until eventually it was lost from sight. 

The others had already gone to sleep other than Lucy who was still standing by the back rail, and Eve who was waiting for me. I settled down next to her, but I didn’t feel tired yet. From the looks of things, she didn’t either. For the last couple days we hadn’t had much time to talk to one another, especially regarding what Phoenix had told us about the Dreamstone. 

Eve didn’t seem to want to talk about that either though. As I set down next to her she simply stared up at the stars. “It really is beautiful tonight.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, but I wasn’t looking at the stars. “So calm, and much warmer than it was last week. Almost comfortable without any Fire.”

She laughed. “A little heat wouldn’t hurt. More excuse to snuggle up, right?” I laughed as well, but I scooted a little closer to her, pushing a little heat to my skin as I did so.

“Perfect,” she hummed, leaning back so she was resting more of her weight on me. We were quiet for a while, listening to the smooth crash of the water. For a while, I thought she had fallen asleep, but eventually she spoke.

“Slink, I’ve been thinking…”

“That could be dangerous,” I joked, nudging her playfully. She smiled, but didn’t laugh.

“Back there… you stood up for me. You trusted me to listen to some of your biggest secrets. I’m just… I really appreciate it Slink. Thank you.”

“You’re my partner,” I said with a shrug. “I love you, why wouldn’t I trust you with that.”

“It was your choice, and I’m honored.” She paused, and I could feel her mind whirring through our connection. “Slink, last week you asked me about Sam’s letter. I told you that I would explain to you when we got back home, but I want to tell you about it now.”

“You don’t have to-” I tried to argue, but Eve cut me off. 

“-No, I want to. You trusted me, so it’s my turn to trust you. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner, but… honestly I was embarrassed with what it said. And more than a little scared of what your reaction would be.” I wasn't sure what to say. I had no idea what I was expecting, but that certainly wasn’t it.

“What the hell do _you_ have to be embarrassed about? Eve, I met your sister. I know what to expect.” I didn’t dare ask what could make Eve afraid of me.

“That’s not it,” she said, rubbing her leg with her tail. “Perhaps it would be easier to just let you read it yourself.” She sat up, her tail snaking over towards her bag.

My heart started pounding in my chest, so hard that I had to lean away from Eve so that she didn’t feel it. Vix had delivered what I had asked for our second day in the village. What would I do if she found out it was missing?

I held my breath as her tail snaked its way into her bag. She felt around for a moment before withdrawing, two letters clamped between her tail-prongs. She regarded them for a moment, before shoving one back into the bag. “Here it is,” she announced as I sagged in relief. “Slink, are you okay?”

“Yes,” I said, perhaps a little too quickly. I was simply relieved that she hadn’t noticed Vix’s theft. “Eve, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I don’t need to know.”

“But I want to tell you. Please.” She shoved the letter towards me, unfolding it as she went. With one final glance at the Espeon, I bent over the page and started to read.  
  
**Dear Eve,**

**Hello sister, how are you? I hope this letter finds you well. Considering it’s been several months since we’ve heard from you, I thought I should write you so I could find out how you are doing. You may not know, but stories about Team MindFire have reached over here. I’ve heard so many Pokemon talk about what your team has done for them. I simply wanted to hear those stories from you. I also wanted to let you know how proud I am of you.**

**Of course, I didn’t only write this letter to check up on you. There are a few other things I wanted to talk about. First, I wanted to apologize again for what I said last time we saw each other and how I treated your team. I was completely out of line, and I still feel terrible about it. Some things have happened recently that made me see things much differently. I’m glad you have found a place where you are happy with people who make you happy.**

I glanced up at Eve, raising an eyebrow. So far, this didn’t seem that strange or worthy of embarrassment or fear. Eve simply gestured for me to keep reading, a slight grimace on her face.

 **But probably the biggest reason I am writing this letter is because I need your advice on something. My entire life, I’ve done what mom and dad asked of me. I made friends with whomever they wanted, I spent time with those they pointed me towards. But you, you were always the rebellious one. You know that I still dislike Shane, but I have to admire your friendship with him. You were friends because you wanted to be, not because dad said so.** **  
****Look Eve, I’ll be honest. Recently I met someone, and I am scared to death to tell mom and dad about it.**

Things were finally starting to make sense, but I still couldn’t figure out why Eve was so terrified. My only option was to keep reading.

**The problem is, he’s not an Eevee or Eeveelution, and I have no idea how dad will react to that. I’ve seen how he reacted when he found out that you and Shane were partners. After I visited you, I mentioned to him how close you and Slink were getting (how is that going by the way?) and he just laughed, dismissing it. I’m scared Eve. I have nowhere else to go if he freaks out over it.**

**I’ve been keeping things slow for the moment, but I think that this could become something special if I let it. But it’s unfair to him to start anything until I tell mom and dad. I need help Eve, and I figured that since you and Slink are getting pretty serious you had potentially thought through how you were going to do it.**

**I know we’ve had our differences as of late, but at one time you loved me enough to evolve. I hope that at least hasn’t changed. I love you sis, and I hope that you can help me.** **  
****  
****All my love,**

**Samantha**

I stared at the words after I had finished, going over them in my head. Eve wouldn’t look at me. She had her paws on her head, and she seemed to be shivering. “Eve, come on. This is what you were embarrassed to show me. You told me before that your parents wouldn’t approve of me. This is just… taking it up a notch. Why are you afraid of my reaction?”

She shook her head. “Yeah, but you don’t know how bad it can get!”

“Then tell me.” Eve didn’t move, her head still beneath her paws. “What did Sam mean about having nowhere else to go? Why would your dad freak out?”

The Espeon shifted, lifting her head from underneath her paws. “What I didn’t tell you about my village is that traditionally legacies don’t get to choose their mates. That is why my parents were always so controlling about my friends. The parents arrange partnerships for their children. When the village was first founded, it was mostly to avoid inbreeding. There were only eighteen of them total after all. When other Pokemon joined the town, it became more political. For a legacy family, maintaining the line is the number one priority, but they also want to keep their bloodlines as solid as possible. I will say that the trend is dying, more than half of the legacies have died out, but that only means that those who survive are more determined to keep it that way.

“If you are the legacy in the family, you have absolutely no choice. When my brother evolves into a Leafeon, he’ll become ‘partners’ with the daughter of the Vaporeon legacy. Once she evolves they will become mates. If either of them refuse they will be seen as an embarrassment to their families and will probably get disowned and banished from the town. To be fair, you don’t have to be partnered with someone from the town, my mother is from the Sand Continent after all. But if your family tells you to become mates, you do it.”

“What if you aren’t the legacy?” I breathed. Finally, I understood why she was so upset by this letter. 

“You have a bit more of a choice. There are more surviving male legacy lines in the village than female. My dad probably hoped that Sam and I would become mates with some of them to help strengthen their lines. Before I met Shane, dad was considering having me partner with Jolt. I think Sam was supposed to partner with one of the sons of the Espeon legacy. If we reject the match...well that really is up to our parents. Like I said, they have a lot of power in our village so they can basically do whatever they want. Some are fine with only a little disappointment that the deal didn’t go through, others have been banished or disowned. I don’t think my dad would do that to us, we mean too much to him for him to do it. Really, what Sam said was about him dismissing you.”

“Why?”

“Slink, he thought it was ridiculous when I became friends with Shane. When he found out we were partners, he was actually surprised. He’s never actually asked us what we want out of friends or who we are interested in. Then when we chose against those he wanted...well the only time I did it, he didn’t really take it well. I honestly have no idea what he’ll do.”

“And so… when Sam brought it up-”

“I was terrified. I honestly always was. Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew that this would be a problem, but I tired not to dwell on it. Sam just reminded me of the problem I’d been ignoring. This is why I didn’t want to tell my family about you. I’m sorry Slink. And now Sam is in the same situation, and I have no idea what to tell her.” She blushed. “I mean, I offered to let her come stay with us if it comes to that. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course you did. That’s fine Eve, I don’t mind. She’s your sister. We’re here if she needs us.” I paused for a moment. “If you are that scared, why tell them at all?” 

She glared at me. “No, Sam was right about that much. Slink, we are getting to be pretty serious, but it isn’t fair to you if I can’t tell my parents about us. And besides, I do miss them. Sure they are wrong about a few things, but they still love me. Really this is the only thing where we don’t get along. I don’t want to cut them out of my life!” Tears glistened in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “But I also don’t want to give you up. I didn’t want you to think that I had to choose.”

“Eve, trust me I understand. I really do. But you don’t have to worry. You won’t lose any of us, no matter what.” I gave her a sideways grin. “Come on Eve, like you ever gave me a choice in this relationship.” I bumped her again, just to be sure she knew I was kidding. 

“Oh, hush.” Eve laughed slapping my side playfully with her tail. “Thanks Slink, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I just… there isn’t much that scares me. I wasn’t scared any of the times the Hatred came after us. I wasn’t scared to leave home alone, but the idea of losing you, of losing any of you scares me to death.”

“I promise you Eve, you will never have to worry about that.” A warm feeling bloomed in my chest as she laid back against me. If I had tried in that moment, I was certain that I could have wielded both Fire and Psychic. Still, there was a nagging feeling deep within my gut. Was I forgetting something?

* * *

The Soothe Bell chimed pleasantly as Vix shouldered open the door. The front room of the shop was empty as we entered, but the bell’s chirp quickly summoned the Sableye owner to the front counter.

“Ah, the Fennekin. Back from the Water Continent I see. Did you freeze up there?” He chuckled.

“It was touch and go for a while there, I must say.” I smiled back at him. “Is the order ready?” 

“Yes, yes. It’s waiting in the back. I’ll go collect it, and if everything is in order we can then discuss payment. Sound fair?”

I nodded, but I’m not sure he actually noticed. He had already turned and was shuffling towards the curtain that lead deeper into the shop. Vix and I were left alone in the shop. I sat down to wait, while she wandered around looking at all of the shiny objects. “So why’d you insist on coming?” 

I jumped as Vix spoke. She hadn’t even paused in her perusal to regard me as she talked. “Last time we were here, I ordered a...surprise for Eve. It would ruin it if she saw it now, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, but you were a bit too excited Slink. Besides, I thought you would want to be at the house. What if some of your grandfather’s stuff was still there?” She had me there. We’d landed back on the Fire Continent only a couple of hours ago. After meeting Kegan at HQ to tell him we had arrived home and how the trip had gone, we’d originally planned on going to the new house to see what we would need to bring over from our apartment, or even if it was possible for us to move in right away. Eve though had remembered _Dazzling Gleam_ and Vix’s bracelet. Now that we were back where the Hatred could reach us, we figured we should retrieve the bracelet as soon as possible.

“And, now that we are alone, why did you have me steal from Eve’s bag? Slink, what is going on?”

I didn’t answer. Somewhat because I didn’t want to, mostly because the Sableye had returned carrying two boxes. For the moment, I ignored Vix. She would find her answers soon enough. “Here is the repaired bracelet,” the Sableye said as he lifted the piece from the smaller of the two boxes. I quickly examined it. The design was slightly different from before, but otherwise it seemed like a perfect replacement. I wordlessly handed the bracelet to Vix who hesitated for just a second too long before taking it and slipping it on. It fit perfectly, the new Fire Stone pressed reassuringly against her fur. 

“Will it work?” I asked the Vulpix. She nodded, swishing her tail experimentally behind her to make sure it wouldn’t slip off by accident. 

“And here is your other order.” He opened the other box, carefully lifting Eve’s blue scarf so that I could see it. Once again I kicked myself for not buying it last time, before we had gone to the Water Continent. However it was quickly set aside as he picked up the second object from the box. “Now, did you ever decide on the kind of setting you want with this piece?”

“Yes, I brought something specific. I just hope it fits.” I met eyes with Vix before I reached into my bag and pulled out Eve’s Dark Stone. Vix watched curiously as I handed it over to the Sableye who examined it thoroughly. 

“What is this? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a specimen quite like it before. Would I be correct in assuming you have no interest in selling it to me?” I gave him a slight smile as I shook my head. “I thought not. Anyway, we built it to your specifications, so it should slot right in.” He carefully slid the Dark Stone into its slot, using his diamond hard claws to press the gold tight against it. “There we are. What do you think?”

I stared wordlessly at the jewel he had presented me. Its shape mirrored that of a normal Expedition badge, but was twice the size. Its coloring was similar to the administrator badges we’d seen with a gold-outlined body and delicate silver wings. The wings themselves seemed to glow from within. Their silver frames reflecting the slight light emitted by the expertly cut halves of Vix’s old Fire Stone. Eve’s Dark Stone was framed in gold, contrasting perfectly with the pitch black color of the gem. Our team symbol, also expertly sculpted from gold, sat embossed atop the stone. It was perfect, and I knew Eve would love it.

I nodded happily to the Sableye, unable to form words due to my growing excitement. Vix watched silently as I paid the shopkeeper, and didn’t even comment as I tucked the badge into my bag’s secret pocket (quite the squeeze with everything it was already holding). It was only while we were out on the street that Vix finally found her voice. 

“What is that Slink? What are you planning?” From the tone of her voice, it was obvious that she already knew the significance of the token. 

Eve had said that things were starting to get serious. She had no idea how right she was.


	19. Fireworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas. If you haven't already, go check out my bonus episodes story. All four existing chapters of that have been uploaded. Otherwise, on with the show!

“Which bedroom was yours again?” I carefully adjusted my mental grip on the box, settling it at the top of the stairs. It wasn’t heavy enough to be much of a strain on my mental power, but this was the fourth box I had carted up the stairs that day, the others having been much heavier than that last one.

“The last one on the right,” Vix called up to me while holding the front door open with two of her tails. She paused as Lucy eased her way through the door, carrying our new couch which was nearly three times her size. “Right across from yours.”

I glanced across the landing then down the short hallway where the bedrooms were. I reached out mentally and pulled open the door to Vix’s new room.

After living in that apartment for over a year and a half, this house was certainly an upgrade. It was jarring moving from a place with four beds across two bedrooms into a place with six bedrooms, and even then there was a pair of rooms downstairs that could be made into bedrooms if need be. When Phoenix had called this place a “house” I imagined something like where I had grown up. The word “estate” fit this place much better. 

T he house itself was enormous, but from the road it seemed small given that it also sat on nearly two acres of land. Most of the space was small grassy hills, but in the far corner a small forest crept in through the black-iron fence that surrounded the entire lot.

I lifted the box again, balancing it on my back. My body carried most of the weight while psychic kept it balanced, lifting it slightly. I carried it down the hallway, past the last bedroom that we had yet to furnish, and into Vix’s new room. I shouldered the door open a little wider, before dumping the box at the base of the scratched and, in a few places, singed bedframe.

Eve had been a little apprehensive about the new house, and I could understand. There was a lot more to take care of and clean, as well as the added furniture we would need. When we’d realized how big the place was we’d been even more concerned. But upon entering we’d found that most of the rooms still contained furniture, most of it covered in white sheets to protect them from dust and from the sun. Some things like the couch and dining room table had either collapsed with age or were so archaic that they were unusable to us, but most of it was pristine. Each bedroom already had beds, complete with blankets, and small chests to hold personal items. 

In fact a couple of the rooms still contained things from when Phoenix and John, and even my family had still lived here. The chest in my room had a small heart carved into the inside of the lid. Within the heart was two sets of initials: SJD and PVD. Thanks to Phoenix, I knew whom they belonged to. Slink John Delphox, and Pyrrha Veton Delphox. My grandparents. Whoever else may have also used this room, it had originally been my grandparent’s.

As for Vix’s room, I was certain it had been mine. In fact I’m almost certain she had chosen it because it was mine. I had vaguest memories of this room, of the view from the window. There were a few obviously painted over patches on the walls that hid scorch marks from a growing fire type. Tucked into a back corner of the closet was a small pile of sticks, almost certainly collected from the trees around the house. My first search for a wand.

Likewise Lucy scoured the downstairs bedrooms in her spare time, looking for traces that her father and grandfather had left behind. There were no obvious clues of her family, but a couple of the walls showed signs of patches, perhaps where a growing Riolu had accidentally struck them.

While looking through these things though, something stuck out to me and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Some of the things that had been left behind seemed to be highly personal. From paintings in the hallway to scarfs and bracelets within the chests and closets, these weren’t things that most Pokemon would just leave behind. I didn’t remember the move all too well, but from all of this, it seemed like we had left in a hurry. But why though, I couldn’t figure out.

I moved over to the window, propping my paws up on the windowsill. From there I could just see the road that led up to the new house and the Mudsdale cart that we had hired for the day to help us move. Eve was still in the cart, carefully lowering boxes and furniture to the ground. Lucy and I were supposed to be bringing the things inside, but I simply needed to rest for just a minute. 

We didn’t have that many possessions, and most of what was in our old apartment had been there from the start. There were still a few things that we did own. A few pictures and paintings that we had purchased to decorate the walls. There was the small hand-carved table a Bibarel had gifted us after saving her nephew from a particularly powerful Dungeon, and of course mine and Eve’s chess table. There were also the years worth of Birthday, Festival of Xerneas, and other small gifts we had all given to each other. Altogether we all were able to pack a box--or in Vix’s case, two--with personal belongings. 

“What are you doing?” 

I lost my balance, my paws slipping off the window sill. I just barely caught myself before hitting my head on the wall. I sheepishly looked over my shoulder to see Vix standing in the doorway. Once I got all four of my paws back on the floor, I turned to face her with as much dignity as I had left. 

“I’m taking a quick break,” I said. “I wanted to see how much we had left to bring in.” 

“Just be glad I caught you and not Eve,” the Vulpix grinned. “She dropped a box a while ago. She didn’t think I was listening, so she really let fly. I think I even learned some new words. Quite the catch you got there, Slink.” She grinned at me. “It isn’t too late to back out, you know.”

I shook my head. “Come on, be nice. I think it’s cute.” 

Vix blushed at those words. “Jeez, you two deserve each other.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Why don’t you just go ahead and and ask her already?”

I sighed. “Vix, if you hadn’t noticed, Eve has been a bit busy this week. I’m sure I could have asked at any time, but I doubt she would have even heard me. Once we’re moved in, that will be the time to ask.” She rolled her eyes once again, but seemed to accept that answer. Eve was a champion, getting everything together for us to move. Unfortunately, outside of eating and sleeping we’d had very little downtime. Not exactly ideal circumstances to have such a big conversation. 

At the same time though, I wanted to do it at the perfect opportunity, but so far one hadn’t really presented itself. In the back of my mind I guessed that after our next successful mission it would be a good time to do it, but at the same time was that special enough? I wanted us both to remember that moment. 

Vix opened her mouth, probably to make another comment, when there was a flash of lavender at the door. “Hey you two. What are you doing up here?” 

“Taking a quick break,” I said hurriedly before Vix could open her mouth. “Sorry, do you need our help?” 

Eve shook her head, “No, Lucy and I got the rest inside at least. I’m not sure which box has what, so it's as good a place as any to leave ‘em until we can really sort through them. Anyway, I was going to head back to the apartment. Sierra and Abby should be done packing up the kitchen by now. Do either of you want to come with me?”

Vix shook her head, but I nodded. “Sure. Just let me grab my bag and then we’ll get going.” I never went anywhere without the black-leather bag at my side anymore. Given what it now contained I never wanted it out of my sight. And I’m not talking about the crystal keys. 

We were about a thirty minute walk from the apartment, but with the Mudsdale cart we were able to cover that distance in just fifteen. The new house was situated on the south edge of town, just before the city gave way to open country. It was a lot more inconvenient to get to Society HQ now, but the extra space made up for it. 

Sierra and Abby were waiting for us in the lobby. “We’ve got everything packed,” the younger Absol said excitedly. “Plus, we got it all to fit into one box. Come on.” 

“I’ve got the box,” Eve said nodding to me. “Why don’t you get things finished up with Mr. Gloom? You just have to sign saying that we are leaving the contract. I’ll bring the keys down after I check over the place one last time.”

At that moment, the Gloom himself folded his newspaper with a flourish. As Abby and Eve disappeared down the hall, I walked up to his desk. He greeted me with a smile. “I hate to see you guys go. It was great having you here, and I’m not just saying that because I needed to pay off my debt to your father. Glad you are all moving on to bigger and better things now. Got a house now,” he grinned at me, “a growing family.”

I’m almost certain he meant Lucy, but I couldn’t help but glance to see if Eve had come back yet. “I’m working on it,” I muttered to myself once I was certain that the Espeon hadn’t returned. “So, do you need a pawprint on something?”

“Yes, uh, let me just grab the form real quick. I have it somewhere.” He ducked down behind his desk, his humming punctuated with the sounds of rustling paper. I sat down to wait, I was in no hurry after all. But I stood once again when I saw the article on the front of Gregory’s newspaper.    
  
“ _ Fireworks on the Water,”  _ I read aloud, “ _ Trail Run of New Lapras Liner to Premier at the Festival of Xerneas.” _

“Have you heard about that?” the Gloom asked as he reemerged holding a single, slightly crumpled sheet of paper. “Kegan only told me a little bit about it when I ran into him yesterday. Apparently the Society has come up with a contraption that can be pulled by any water Pokemon.” 

“Yeah,” Sierra said, coming up behind me to examine the newspaper as well. “We took one of them to the Water Continent. It fit all six of us comfortably on the way home.”

Gloom nodded. “Yes, well, apparently they’ve built one that can carry more than fifty Pokemon. The Society is going to show it off during the Festival of Xerneas. Sail it from Lapras Port up to Festive Town. I even hear that  _ The Gogoat  _ is catering dinner for the passengers. If I wasn’t spending the Festival with relatives, I would buy a ticket. Seems like a once in a lifetime experience.”

He passed me the paper and watched as I wordlessly pressed my paw against the page. On the inside though I was smiling like a Wynaut. Once-in-a-lifetime seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. 

Good thing Eve didn’t get seasick.

* * *

It seemed like it took months rather than the three weeks it actually was, but finally the Festival of Xerneas had rolled around once again. That morning, after Eve had left the room for breakfast, I quickly repacked my bag and got it ready for that evening. I double and triple checked that I had the badge token and the pair of tickets for the event. I had hours before it would be time, but I was certain that I had Butterfree the size of Steelix whirling within my stomach.

We left the house just after lunch--we had to or there was no way we would have made it. Eve had no idea what was in store as I’d only told her that it was a surprise. She trusted me enough that she didn’t even think twice when I told her to grab her bag because we would be gone for a while. “We’ll be back in plenty of time for the Fireworks and the Festival. I promise.” I told her as she pulled on her blue scarf, tying it across her throat. As we left, the others all quietly wished me good luck, although how Lucy or Abby knew what was happening was beyond me. I had a feeling that Vix had something to do with it.

The journey south was pleasant enough, although it took a bit longer than I expected due to the Dungeon in the way. Since we didn’t have Vix we chose to take an alternate road around the Dungeon. Throughout the long walk, we were mostly silent and I couldn’t help but marvel at how much had changed since we first met. Then the silence had been awkward, but now it was comfortable. Each of us simply content to be in the other’s company.

As we approached Lapras Port, Eve obviously guessed where we were headed. Thankfully she still didn’t know what was in store. “Why did you want to come to Lapras Port? Did you find something here that you wanted to get as a festival gift? I guess that when we are done we can get a Lapras back home.” She glanced back at the quickly sinking sun, pulling her scarf a little closer around her shoulders. “We are cutting it a bit close though. The Fireworks usually start as soon as the sun sets.” 

“I told you we would be back in town by the time the Fireworks start,” I reassured as we crested the final hill and the town came into view. “In fact, I guess you could say they are waiting on us tonight.” Even from here, the massive vessel we were about to board was visible, floating awkwardly by a dock that was clearly too small for it.

Eve’s eyes widened as she saw it. “You didn’t.” She grinned at me, and I couldn’t help but share her excitement. I don’t think I’d ever seen her tail wag as wildly as it did then. “Thank you Slink, this is already wonderful. I mean, just look at that.” 

It was truly a sight to behold. The vessel was easily twenty times the size of the one that had carried us to the Water Continent, and even had two levels. Both decks were crowded with tables, although half of the bottom deck was walled off. I assumed that is where the food was being prepared. 

As we got closer, we were finally able to make out the massive Wailord beneath the craft, his tail extending long past the end of the float, nearly up onto the shore. His head poked out the front, his enormous black eyes visible just above the water. At least two dozen ropes extended down into the water. Every once in a while a Primarina would surface near the Wailord’s head. “You still okay Kyle? That last strap isn’t uncomfortable? Just a couple more to go and then we will be finished.” She smiled and waved as she saw us watching. “Hello there. Best climb aboard. We’ll be setting off as soon as I get Kyle ready.”

There were a few Society members that greeted us as we boarded, a couple of them Eve seemed to know from the raid on the Hatred. They didn’t even ask for our tickets, they simply smiled at us and waved us aboard the ship. We immediately rushed to the top deck, eager to claim a table that would have a spectacular view.

From there we simply relaxed, waiting as the rest of the ship slowly filled up with more Pokemon. Several groups, specifically families with children, settled on the lower decks. Eve giggled as we watched a little Ralts waddling along by the lower rails and the nervous Gardevoir that was chasing them. There were also visitors from other continents among the crowd, although the only way I could tell was from the diversity of badge shapes worn by many of the Pokemon. A particularly raucous group were all wearing the perfectly-circular badge of the Wigglytuff guild, while a quieter trio represented the Paradise with their golden-ring crowned badges. One couple, sitting only a table away from us, wore the egg-shaped badges of the Rescue Teams.

The sun had dropped even lower in the sky by the time we set sail. It slipped just below the Scale Mountains, dropping the coast into an early dusk. The deck beneath our feet shuddered as the Wailord beneath raised his tail above the surface, bending it almost double so it hovered just above his back. A Loudred was perched unsteadily on the fluke, glaring down at us.

“WELCOME EVERYONE. ON BEHALF OF THE EXPEDITION SOCIETY OF THE FIRE CONTINENT I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME YOU ALL TO THE DEBUT OF THE SOCIETY’S FIRST RUN OF OUR BULK OFFICIAL AQUATIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM. WE ARE ABOUT TO TAKE OFF, SO PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL OF YOUR BELONGINGS AND PLEASE DON’T MOVE AROUND UNTIL AFTER WE HAVE LEFT PORT. THIS WILL BE A ONE-WAY TRIP TO FESTIVE TOWN. DINNER WILL BE SERVED SHORTLY. THANK YOU, AND WE HOPE YOU ENJOY THE RIDE.” As soon as he was finished with his speech that made my eardrums throb he dropped gently from the Wailord’s fin to the deck.

The wooden floor beneath us began to tilt as the Wailord dropped his tail back into the water. The first few beats of his tail were choppy and awkward. He didn’t have enough room to maneuver, at least without flooding the town. Those few sloppy strokes were just enough to get us out to open water, and it was smooth sailing from there. Still, I could tell that the Wailord wasn’t swimming as quickly as he usually would, mostly to keep the ride steady for us, but also to give us time to eat before the fireworks.

As it got darker, a pair of Volcarona flitted around the tables lighting small torches and candles scattered around the deck. I had already lit the ones near us. It was all I could do in the moment. I hardly touched my dinner, my stomach swirling with nervous excitement. Should I do it now, or wait until after the fireworks? No, I would wait. It would be much better after.

It was tough to tell where we were along the coastline, especially as the sun sank even lower. As night truly fell we couldn’t even see the water anymore, it just seemed like an extension of the star strewn sky. The occasional speck of a lighted window or campfire were the only signs of shore. Eventually though we arrived at what had to be Festive Town. The amount of warm orange light spilling from it illuminated the sky above.

As we got closer though, the glow dimmed as the town’s lamps and candles were extinguished one by one. I could still see where the festival was set up, but otherwise the city was dark. The same Volcarona flitted back across the deck, extinguishing our torches. 

Then,  **_BOOM_ ** .

A single column of sparks erupted from just south of the city soaring miles into the air before exploding into a brilliant blue starburst. The sparks quickly rearranged themselves into the Life Pokemon himself. Xerneas trotted in a circle over the city before bursting into golden shimmers. 

From there, the real fireworks began. At first the patterns and showers of sparks seemed to be random, beautiful but only in simple shapes and colors. Shimmering silver sparkles, ruby-red embers, and a few brilliant purple starbursts. 

As the show went on though the sparks reformed into patterns. Silver stars became bubbles in a sea that Lapras, Wailord, and Milotic swam through. Green stars became fields and trees. Fletchlings, Staravia, and Hoothoot flew around while Stantler, Scorbunny, and Blitzle wandered beneath. 

It was a glorious show, far better than the one the previous year. Eventually though it had to come to an end. A colossal tree appeared in the sky, each leaf glittering a different fiery color. A series of tightly choreographed explosions had it morph into Xerneas once again. My heart skipped a beat as I recognized the significance of the tree and the Pokemon. My grandfather was the reason the tree still stood, the reason why years later thousands of Pokemon could continue to celebrate this holiday. I barely even noticed when the fireworks finally came to an end. In fact I only refocused when the lights came back on. 

“That was… spectacular,” Eve gasped, grinning madly. “I am so glad we did this. Although if they do this next year we need to bring the others. Vix might wet herself from how cool that was.”

I laughed, a little of my nervous energy slipping out while I did. “Definitely, although the fireworks weren’t too far from the new house. I’m sure that the others had quite the show as well. I’m glad you enjoyed this though.”

Eve smiled, looking back towards the town as one by one the lamps were relit. “Oh,” she suddenly said turning back to me. She fumbled with her paw and her tail, reaching for her bag, “Kegan sent me a message while we were walking. The Paradise and Rescue Team Society have accepted our request, but the Wigglytuff guild requested some… incentive. Jerks. Kegan suggested that we counter with-”

“Eve, come on. Give it a rest, even if just for tonight. Come on.”

“Slink, we are so close to finding the Dreamstone! I mean we’ve got the Rescue Team Society and more importantly the Paradise looking for the Dream Dungeon. I just wanted to let you know.”

“Thank you, I’m just saying, we can take a break tonight. All of that will still be there tomorrow. Is it wrong that I just want a quiet night with my partner?”

Eve raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh, I see how it is,” she said in mock anger, “you take me on a couple of dates and I’m supposed to find the Dreamstone for you.”

I laughed, “Darn it, you figured it out.” I grinned at her. My nervousness was gone, in fact I had no idea why I was feeling it in the first place. This was Eve, I didn’t have to worry when I was with her. I took a deep breath, and then took the plunge. “Thank you, Eve.”

“For what?”

“For the past year and a half. My life hasn’t been the same since I met you. We’ve done so much since. I mean look at the team we’ve gathered together.” She smiled as I said it, although strangely her ears twitched as I started speaking again. “I know that we haven’t been partners for long, but-”

“-Slink!” Eve’s eyes were wide, her gem flickering with energy.

“I know, but come on, let me finish.” I placed one paw on my bag, “Eve I just wanted to say-”

“-No, Slink, listen!” She pointed with her tail. I turned my head to face the table beside us. I have no idea how I hadn’t heard them before. The pair there were having a heated discussion, more of an argument than anything at this point.

“What are you talking about? Xatu himself said that we would need an item in order to get through the door!” the Leafeon on the same side of the table to me snapped.

The Typhlosion opposite him didn’t seem impressed. “He also told us that a Pokemon held the keys. We should be looking for them. They are probably already planning on opening the door.”

My heart started pounding in my throat. Were they talking about what I so hoped they were?

“Xatu was very clear,” the Typhlosion continued, “only a-” 

“ALRIGHT EVERYONE,” Loudred was back, drowning out any hope we had of eavesdropping on the other couple, “WE ARE PREPARING TO DISEMBARK. UNFORTUNATELY THE FESTIVE TOWN DOCK ISN’T LARGE ENOUGH FOR US TO LAND, BUT SEVERAL KIND LAPRAS WILL FERRY YOU IN GROUPS OF FOUR TO THE SHORE. PLEASE FORM AN ORDERLY QUEUE ON THE LOWER DECK. AND THANK YOU FOR TAKING THIS JOURNEY WITH US.” 

Once he was finished, Eve and I had to inch closer to the pair’s table in order to hear the rest over the ringing in our ears.

“And given that weird symbol,” the Typhlosion continued as soon as the Loudred had finished, “it shouldn’t be too hard to find them. Come on Al, we should get going.”

I’d heard enough. “Excuse me. Mind if we pair up with you guys. He did say four to a Lapras.” The two glanced at each other before nodding. 

“Sure,” the Typhlosion said with a smile. “I’m Cynder, and this is my partner Alyx. We’re visiting from the Air Continent.”

“I’m Eve, and this is Slink. We’re with the Expedition Society.” She smiled. “Glad to meet you.”

The four of us joined the scramble downstairs, but it was slow going. “Do you mind if I ask you both a question? Have you...been to the Mist Continent recently?” 

“Why do you ask?” Alyx replied suspiciously.

Eve glanced at me. “Perhaps it will be easier to show you.” I ducked out from under the shoulder of my bag as Eve lifted it off my shoulder. Unfortunately, the string of my necklace snagged on something. My heart leapt as I saw the smallest glint of gold poking out of the secret pocket.

I carefully nudged it back in, hoping beyond anything that Eve wouldn’t notice my Psychic power. Thankfully, she was completely focused on the two other Pokemon whose eyes had gone wide as they stared at the symbol stamped on the side. 

“That’s...that’s it. That’s the symbol.” Alyx turned to stare at me. “It’s you, you’re the one with the key.”

I nodded. “We’ve been looking for that Dungeon for over a year now. I need to get to what is inside. We just need to know where it is.”

Cynder nodded. “Of course. Uh, it was...in the North East. Um… a little South of Smoking Mountain… uh I’m sorry, the name is escaping me at the moment.”

Eve was there in a flash. The Expedition Gadget was out of her bag floating in front of the Typhlosion with the Mist Continent filling the screen.

“Wow,” Alyx said, “the Expedition Society is doing it right. These are way better than what we have.”

Cynder ignored him. She poked and prodded at the screen before finally nodding. “Alpine Mysts. That is the Dungeon you need.”

Eve almost dropped the Gadget. She turned to stare at me, her eyes wide and wet. I could understand, the same exhilaration and joy was flooding through me. “We did it! We finally found it!”

We crashed together into what was almost a hug, but we were simply too excited to stay still. “When is the earliest you think we can get a Lapras? We’ll probably have to wait until tomorrow morning for it, but I bet we can get one to wait overnight so we won’t have to go  _ back _ to Lapras Port…” I trailed off as I realized that Eve had sobered up a little.

“Something tells me that we aren’t going to the festival tonight.” She grimaced. “The others won’t be too happy about this.”

“I can make it up to them,” I said, forcing myself not to look at her. “Eve, the longer I stay, the greater the chance that the Hatred strikes again, and according to Phoenix if they get even one of the keys they will be able to get through the doors. I can be there and back in just a couple of days. Eve, I’ve already waited a year. Now that I know where it is I can’t wait.”

Eve narrowed her eyes at me. “I’m just saying that  _ we _ should have a plan instead of going into this completely blind. That could go bad for  _ us _ .”

“ _ I’ll  _ be fine,” I said, my voice rising a little. “One Pokemon by himself won’t attract too much attention, even a Fennekin. I’ll be fine.”

At that point the Espeon finally dropped all pretense. “Slink, you are  _ not _ going alone.”

“Eve, it is dangerous. You can’t come. I would never forgive myself if you got hurt or worse from this.”

“Like hell I’m not. We are in this together! You can’t expect me to stay behind after everything we’ve been through searching.” She glared at me, her gem blazing. I could almost hear her, daring me to say no. “Besides,” she snapped, “you may be okay dying, but I’m certainly not about to lose you. I want to be there to watch your back.”

We stood there, glaring at one another. That is until Alyx spoke up. “Damn, Cyn, this is awkward.” To be fair, I think he had planned on it being a private comment to the Typhlosion, but it seemed like he didn’t have good volume control.

Eve and I were now glaring at him, and Cynder slapped him in the back of the head. Still, it had at least broken the tension. 

Eve sighed. “Let’s get back to shore and find the others. Then we can make a decision.” She glanced at Alyx and Cynder. The former rubbed the back of his head while the other glared at him. “We’ll be along in a minute.” Eve smiled at me, licking my cheek. “Here’s your bag.”

I nodded, lifting it up and over my shoulder. As it settled, I suddenly became aware of the sharp edge of the badge token digging into my shoulder. In all of the excitement, I had forgotten what tonight was supposed to be about. The instant the thought crossed my mind, a sharp pain blossomed behind my eyes. I stumbled, barely catching myself before I hit the deck. I closed my eyes, clenching my jaw to keep myself from crying out.

The pain vanished as soon as it appeared, but the damage was done. “Slink, are you okay?” Eve rushed over, putting her tail on my shoulder. 

“Fine,” I said, probably too quickly. “I’m probably just tired.” I know she didn’t believe me, but she also didn’t say anything. 

“You didn’t eat much, maybe that is it. Come on, let’s get back to town.” I let her lead me down to the lower deck, the pain nothing but an unsettling memory.

* * *

“Do you really have to go?” Vix asked looking up at me from her position sprawled on the floor. 

“Vix, you know we do. It will just be a couple of days. Don’t worry about it.” As I spoke, I repacked my bag once again. The two crumpled tickets from the night before were discarded in favor of our usual supply of berries and seeds. I double checked my bag to make sure I had everything I needed before starting on Eve’s bag. 

The night before we had found the others just outside Society HQ. We made excuses of being tired, telling them that we didn’t want to ruin their fun. Unfortunately, the next morning they were waiting for us demanding answers. So we gave them. Of course we didn’t tell them everything, but we told them that we had found a lead and were going to check it out. I’m sure Lucy knew more than what she said, but I trusted her not to tell the others. Even though we insisted that Eve and I would be fine going alone, Vix refused to drop it.

“Sure, I guess,” the Vulpix replied moodily, “but I still don’t see why I can’t come. I can be useful.”

I stopped what I was doing so that I could devote all of my attention to her. “This isn’t about you being useful. You are invaluable, I know I’ve told you that. Any other time I’d have you along just because I want you to come. But this is different.”

“How is it different?”

“Vix, I don’t know what is going to happen when we get to the Mist Continent. If the Hatred hears any whisper that we know where the Dreamstone is they will be after us in an instant. I will never put you through that again.”

I turned away, knowing that if I looked at her much longer I would give. It was time for the final piece of the puzzle. The chest in our room, the one my grandfather and grandmother had carved their initials into, had turned out to be heavily enchanted. I wouldn’t have even known had I not decided to store the wand Vix had given me last year in it. I was no enchanter, but I knew enough to figure out what the enchantment could do. Basically if someone opened the lid without using the key, the contents of the chest would be warped somewhere else. It was certainly where my father had gotten the idea for his hiding place.

It was the safest place in the entire house, and it was now where we kept the crystal keys. I triple checked that the key was in the lock before I opened it and carefully placed each of the keys within my bag.

“How long will you be gone?” I turned to find Vix with her head tucked sadly between her paws. It was pitiful, but not effective.

“Vix, I promise it will be fine. Two days there, a day or two to find the Dreamstone, and another two days back. Honestly if we hurry we should be back before sunset in five days.” The Vulpix fell silent at those words, giving me an opportunity to finish packing. When I turned around however I found that Vix had frozen in place, a blank look on her face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” her voice came out much higher than usual. “I just remembered that I...I need to tell Eve something before you go. I’ll go see if I can find her.”

With that she practically sprinted from the room. 

I didn’t see her again until Eve and I were standing at the front door, bidding farewell to the others. Sierra and Abby just wished us luck, but Lucy full on hugged me. I honestly wasn’t sure that we were there yet, but it was a sweet gesture. Before she pulled away though she whispered in my ear, “Good luck. Tell your father I said ‘hi’ when you see him.” 

I smiled at her. “Of course.”

Vix was the last to say goodbye. She nuzzled against Eve, but when she got to me she pressed extremely close, nearly pushing me over. 

“Promise me you’ll come back.” She whispered. 

It seemed odd that this was bothering her this much, but I still answered her. “Of course. I promise.” Satisfied, she pulled away, but she still seemed on edge.

“Did Vix seem strange to you?” I asked Eve as we boarded our Lapras.

“She told me that she had a bad feeling about all of this before trying to get me to bring her along.” Eve shook her head. “She seemed off. Nervous maybe? Not that she would tell either of us even if we asked.”

I shook my head. “It’s probably just that we’re leaving. Remember what happened last time? Plus the fact that we left in the middle of the festival. I wouldn’t worry about it. We can make it up to her later.” In all honesty I was trying to reassure myself. This didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t lose focus on the mission right now. We were so close to the Dreamstone.

We did have one stop we  _ had  _ to make first.

* * *

It wasn’t very warm on the Mist Continent. The sun shone brilliantly in an almost cloudless sky, but the air itself still held a slight chill of winter. The Fire Continent had been blessed with early spring. The grass was green there but here it was still shriveled and yellow. A thin veil of fog hung over the ground, yet to be burned away by the sun. The land though still held a strange sense of beauty that was on full display as we made our way through Post Town to the small house sitting on the outskirts. 

The cabin looked exactly the same as the last time we visited, but looking closer I found that there were some new things that added a different energy to the house. Things like the small toys that had been left on the doorstep, or the small scorch marks in the grass left by a child that had only recently learned that she could breathe fire. I was delighted to see that a couple of places along the walls were smeared with soot, but these were completely intentional. The patterns were crude, but recognizable as drawings. Most of them were small Fennekin, but there were a few Delphox and Watchog, and, my heart leapt as I realized that one showed two Fennekin, an Espeon, a Vulpix, and a pair of Absol. 

As we approached the door, we could even hear the tell-tale sounds of an excited five-year-old. “Oh, no!” a high voice squealed. “We have to rescue them. Hurry Tay, get the gaddet!” I glanced at Eve, both of us trying not to burst out laughing, as I moved to knock on the door. 

As soon as I did though, the mood within the house changed. The happiness and energy I heard earlier evaporated in an instant. Ash’s voice became silent, I couldn’t even hear her moving. Soft, stealthy footsteps approached the door, pausing for a moment as something thudded to the floor. Then the door was pulled open slowly. “What do you want?” A single red eye peered through the door, I could just make out a clenched, black-furred paw clutching the handle of her wand. Recognition flared in the eye as it swept up and down, taking us in. There was a moment's hesitation before suddenly…"Slink? Eve?”

She stepped back, pulling the door open fully. “It’s good to see you too, Xen,” I smiled, “may we come in?”

The Delphox nodded, stepping back and waving us inside. “Of course, come in,” she said returning my smile as she put her wand away. “Sorry for the hostility, but you understand. I’m not going to take any chances. Anyway what brings you back to the Mist Continent?”

Eve waved a paw. “No problem. There is no shame in being cautious. We’re just passing through and thought we should stop by.”

“I came across some new information recently,” I added, “and I felt that you had a right to know it as well.”

Xen blinked at my sudden shift in tone. “Oh, well come in then.” She closed the door behind us before looking over her shoulder at the couch. “I almost forgot. Ashley, you can come out now. Come on dear, we have visitors.”

A head slowly emerged from underneath the couch. Ashley looked around carefully before her eyes locked on us. She scrambled out from underneath the couch, her claws scrabbling against the floor in her haste to reach us. “Slink!” She cried out as she leaped at me and nuzzled happily against my cheek. She beamed at me before turning to Eve and greeting her just as enthusiastically. 

“How have you been Ash?” Eve asked with a warm smile, bowing her front legs to put her at the same level as the child. 

“Really good,” Ash said, her tail wagging wildly, “mommy got me a new Esp’on toy, and I joined a S‘Pedition Team.” She puffed out her chest proudly, showing off a somewhat crude paper badge that had been pinned there. The paper had been folded and crumpled so many times that it looked more like fabric, but still the shape and design was instantly recognizable. It was the winged badge of the Expedition Society, and scrawled on top of it was clearly our team signal, the Dreamstone Symbol.

“That is so cool,” Eve encouraged, glancing up at Xen with a nervous grin.

“Say, Ash,” Xen said, “why don’t you take Eve to your room and show her your Expedition Team. Maybe she’ll want to recruit some of them herself.”

Ash giggled, but seemed legitimately excited at the idea. “Do you wanna?” She asked Eve. The Espeon smirked at me, shaking her head before nodding to Ash.

“Of course I would,” she looked pointedly at me and Xen. “While we’re gone maybe you two can discuss what you need to.”

Ash practically dragged Eve to her room, leaving me and Xen alone. “You mentioned that as well Slink. What exactly is it that you needed to tell me?”

“Perhaps we should sit down,” I suggested. “It’s nothing bad, I don’t think,” I clarified in response to Xen’s grimace, “there is just a lot to talk about. Shall we?”

I let her lead me into the living room where she sank into the same straight-backed blue armchair as she had last time we’d talked, while I settled onto the couch once again. “I don’t really know exactly how I want to say this, so let’s start here. I am all but certain that Eve and I have found the Dreamstone.”

“You have,” Xen said, her eyes lighting up. “It’s here on the Mist Continent, isn’t it?”

I nodded, “That’s why we are here. We were just stopping by on our way through. But that isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. Well, I guess the best place to start is with my grandfather, or I guess I should say  _ our _ grandfather.”

She blinked, trying to register what I had said. “ _ Our... _ you mean, we’re…”

“Half-cousins,” I supplied. “Not really sure if there is another term for us. Anyway yeah, that Delphox you suspected was your grandfather, well he was, and he was my grandfather too.”

“Cousin works for me,” Xen said, a small smile forming on her snout. “I don’t really want to overthink it. Haven’t really had much family in my life. Makes it even luckier that you found Ash, huh.”

“Yeah, about that...I don’t think that was really a coincidence. That was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I think that the Hatred won’t be after Ash anymore.”

“Are...are you serious?” In her excitement sparks flared in her fur. “Why do you think that?”

“Its a long story,” I admitted, “and honestly I’m not sure I understand most of it myself. I met a Pokemon who explained it all to me. Our grandfather created the Dreamstone, and he made it so that only a Fennekin could access it. He made the crystal that you gave me to ensure that the wrong people couldn’t get the Dreamstone. I don’t know for certain, but I think that is why the Hatred took Ash. I’m sure they planned on using her to get to the Dreamstone. Once I find it though, they’ll have no use for Ash. They haven’t been known to chase shinies off-continent, so you guys should be safe.” 

Xen had stopped looking at me. She had a hand across her muzzle and she didn’t seem to particularly be looking at anything. “I wouldn’t exactly let my guard down,” I added hastily, “but...that would be one last thing for you to worry about.”

At that Xen turned again to face me with eyes that were more red than usual. “Are you sure that we are merely family? Because if I didn’t know better I’d say you are my daughter’s Wonder Guard. Thank you Slink, you have no idea what a weight off my shoulders this is.”

I remembered how she had answered the door, and the desperation and hopelessness I had felt when my own daughter had been in danger. “I can understand,” I said softly. 

Xen continued on, like she hadn’t even heard me. “Charlie did his best, but he isn’t much of a fighter, and the Paradise simply doesn’t have the resources, and we don’t have the money to post a guard or anything. Every morning I was afraid to go into her room because I was afraid that she would be gone again.” She sighed and I realized that she had been holding onto this stress, unable to vent it, probably since Ash had been returned. “I’m happy, proud even, to call you family Slink. I mean it.”

I shrugged off the praise. “I was just doing what anyone would do.”

“Yes, well, thank you anyway Slink. Hmmm, so do you both need a place to stay the night or...?”

“Thanks, but we were planning on moving out just as soon as we finished talking.” I glanced over my shoulder to see if Eve had finished with Ash yet. “I’m sure that once Eve gets back we will probably head out. We promised our team that we’d be back three days from now. If we want to keep on schedule we have to keep moving.”

“I understand,” Xen nodded, “although if you know Ash, we might be waiting a while for Eve.” I couldn’t help but smile. Ash was a talker, and she was so sweet and earnest that you felt bad for interrupting her. “So how is the rest of your team? Ash talks about them all the time. I feel like I know them at this point, although I believe I was given a few...extraordinary details. I haven’t met them, but from what Ash has told me I don’t think Sierra or Abby are ‘made of clouds’.”

I laughed. “Their fur is pretty soft, they are Absol after all, but not quite that good.”

“Oh, is that what they are? Looking at Ash’s drawings I thought they were Rhapidash,” Xen laughed. “And the rest of you. Vix? Eve?”

“Vix is doing great. As for Eve…” I could have easily given a basic answer, ‘she’s great too’, but I felt like that couldn’t even describe the thoughts swirling through my head. I pressed a paw to my bag, thinking about the token within, and how when we found the Dreamstone I was going to…

“Argh,” I nearly howled, putting a paw to my head. A bolt of pure white pain seared just behind my eyes that seemed to pulse along with my heartbeat. It was totally unexpected. My paw pressed right between my eyes didn’t seem to lessen the pain at all, but I had half-convinced myself that it did. 

The strangest part of it all though was that Xen also grabbed at her head around the same time that I did. “Hey, Slink, could you turn it off?”

What was she talking about? I wasn’t doing anything, or at least I didn’t think that I was. As soon as my thoughts focused on that question, the pain faded. It was instant, like it had never existed in the first place. But Xen continued to look at me warily, all the proof I needed to know that something strange was going on. “What happened?” I grunted.

“Why don’t you tell me? Do you have a headache? You clutched at your head, but then I got a blast of Psychic feedback.” Her expression softened. “Seriously Slink, is everything okay? I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this since-”

“MOMMY!” A grey streak shot across the floor before skidding to a stop at the foot of Xen’s chair. “Look at what Eve just gived me!” Eve followed at a much slower pace, with a nervous smile on her face.

Ash puffed out her chest yet again, but instead of the well-worn paper badge she’d had on earlier there was a true silver badge with little gilt wings. Our team symbol was etched into the face, but there was no glow emanating from within it. “It was in my bag,” Eve explained quickly, “it’s completely decommissioned since we upgraded to the new ones. I thought it would be better than her old paper one.”

“That  _ is _ really cool Ashley,” Xen said, smiling at Eve, giving her a small approving nod. “You just have to be very careful not to lose it. And did you tell miss Eve thank you?”

“I didn’t think she was ever going to stop,” Eve said dryly. “I don’t mean to be rude Xen, but Slink and I really have to get going soon. We only stopped by so Slink could talk to you.”

Xen frowned at me, but didn’t say anything. “Slink told me. It's a shame really, I wish you had more time so that I could get to know my new family better.”

Despite the lingering memory of the pain, and the confusion around the Psychic consequences I couldn’t help but grin. “We’ll be back, I promise. And maybe next time we’ll bring the others too so you can meet them properly.”

Soon after we were out the door, following the road northeast towards Alpine Mysts. We were finally on our way.

* * *

Eventually though we had to stop for the night. The sun had set, and we were hours away from the Alpine Mysts Dungeon. Plus after two days on a Lapras, and how far we had traveled that day we were more than ready to call it a night.

Since disks wouldn’t work outside of Dungeons, we were forced to rig up a makeshift camp, just like the night we had first met. Things were slightly easier this time though. We only needed one nest, and it took half as long to setup a fire. We were like a well-oiled machine at this point. 

Once camp had been setup we settled down, but didn’t sleep quite yet. Despite how tired we were, it was still far too early to sleep. I was lost in thought, while at the same time my insides were writhing like Ekans. At the moment at least, my mind wasn’t at all focused on the Dreamstone, but rather on the strange headache I’d had.

“You okay Slink? You’ve been acting weird since we left Xen’s place. Is everything alright?” I jumped at Eve’s voice, turning to face her. I hadn’t realized how close we were sitting, our noses were barely an inch away from touching. 

“I’m fine,” I answered quickly, leaning away from Eve. “It’s just… something Xen mentioned.”

“What?”

“The other night, on the ship, do you remember when I almost collapsed?”

“Maybe. Is that what happened? I mean, it looked like you just stumbled.” She was staring at me intently now. “Why did you almost collapse?”

“Out of nowhere, I just...I got a blinding headache. What I want to know though is if you felt anything when that happened? Anything Psychically?”

She shook her head, which normally would have reassured me but there was a hesitation to it. “There was...something. I wouldn’t have even thought about it had you not brought it up, but yeah I think there was something. It was faint, and it was just white noise. I thought it was just the waves.”

Xen was right, but that didn’t explain  _ why _ it was happening. Was I sick? Was there something wrong in my head? “Eve, could you, er, check it out? I mean,” I put a paw on my head, “there is obviously something messing with my Psychic.”

“Of course,” Eve said a note of concern in her voice. “I think I have a vague idea of what it might be. I’ve read about something like this. May I?”

Our connection was still open, and I could feel her power creeping through it into my head. It was a tiny, ticklish tingle that hummed against the base of my skull. 

Eve had been in my head so many times that we were both comfortable with it. She knew her way around in there at this point, but I still tried to direct her to where I had felt the pain. “A little higher. To the left, no not that far. Forward a little.”

“I...I think I may have found something. Hmm.” She cocked her head to the side, keeping her eyes closed.

“What? Is it what you thought it was?” 

“No, but I know what it is. You’ve got a Psychic lock in here. Seems like whatever you’ve locked up has been trying to get out.”

“Lock? I don’t remember locking anything up. If it is trying to get out that badly, would it be better if I unlocked it?”

Eve shook her head. “Whatever it is, it seems powerful. You might want to have Kegan or someone take a look at it when we get home. But the strangest thing--to me at least--is that it is my lock.”

“How come you don’t know what is in it if you blocked it?”

“That’s the strangest thing. I have absolutely no memory of it. I would definitely remember doing that. I mean the only time I ever used a Psychic lock with you was after we rescued you from the Hatred, and that one only existed for a day.”

A thought suddenly occurred to me. “Eve, can I…” she’d opened her eyes at this point, so I simply gestured to her head.

“Sure, I guess. Why though?”

“I want to check something. Maybe I’m wrong.” I had a feeling that I wasn’t though. I closed my eyes, sending power down the connection until I had arrived in Eve’s head. It didn’t take me long to find it as I moved through her mind--somehow I knew exactly where it would be. A Psychic lock, one that I had created, there in Eve’s head. 

I had no idea when or why I had created it, but the evidence before me was hard to refute. “There is one in your head too,” I communicated to Eve as I inspected the lock. “You haven’t had any headaches right?”

“No,” Eve said. “What did we try to forget? Is it the same memory for both of us? I doubt it considering how desperately your memory is trying to escape.” I could feel her thoughts begin to swirl, and I almost lost track of the lock in the process. As she continued to muse, I stared at the seal, reaching out with my Psychic. The lock trembled as my mental probe got closer, but as I did Eve must have felt it. “Wait Slink, I don’t think this is such a good-” 

The lock burst open, the sudden rush of memory forcing me from Eve’s head. I flinched as I landed back within my own mind. Opening my eyes I was met with the shocked expression on Eve’s face, her eyes wide and unfocused as the memories washed over her. Light poured from her gem as it flickered in an erratic, almost painful pattern. 

And then it was over. She froze, and even from where I was sitting I could hear her heart pounding, but she didn’t speak. She didn’t do anything. Eve simply lay there, muscles pulled so tight I’m amazed that her bones didn’t snap. “Eve, are you okay? What memory was it?”

Eve blinked, and then looked up at me. Her eyes flickered over me, as if searching for something. “I...I...you said…”

“I’m so sorry Eve. I didn’t hear you until I’d already opened the lock. Please tell me what is going on. I’ll block the memory again if that will help you.” 

She was already shaking her head, slowly sinking, almost melting until she was curled up in the grassy nest we had made with her back to me. “It’s already out. There will be no hiding it again. Not for a while.”

“Well, what is it? And do you know why it was blocked? Why both of us have our memories locked?” I tried to put my paw comfortingly over hers, but she snatched it away. She’d completely walled off her mind to me, and she had shifted slightly so that we weren’t touching.

“It’s... that night we told our stories I… asked you to lock away a few of the gorier details. I...I didn’t want to remember them anymore. You didn’t want to accidentally slip up, so you asked me to lock away your knowledge of the events too.” It seemed reasonable, but something felt off about her explanation. I simply chalked it up to her being upset. 

“I want to help,” I implored her. “Unlock my memory too. I can help you through this if you tell me what it is.”

“No!” Eve snapped. She sounded angry, and more than a little panicked. “This is my memory. I can take it. Besides, you have to find the  _ Dreamstone  _ tomorrow. One of us needs to be thinking clearly.” It made sense, but I was a bit perturbed by the strain in her voice, especially as she talked about the Dreamstone. 

“Okay, if that is what you want.” I Psychically snuffed the campfire, sending us into near complete darkness. I tried to shift closer to her, but she shied away again. Mentally, I sighed. She wanted to be alone. I could understand that. “Just remember if you need anything, I’m right here. You can tell me anything. I’ll be here for you. I promise.” 

I had a hard time falling asleep that night. Eve kicked and shifted for hour after hour. Eventually though I managed to drift off into my own troubled dreams. 

If only Eve had confronted me then. 

* * *

The silence was killing me.

Obviously there was the typical stillness of the Mystery Dungeon, but then there was the fact that Eve was still silent. She wasn’t herself. I understood that she was still reeling from whatever that memory had been, but even then she was acting strangely. 

From what I’d seen that morning, she hadn’t gotten any sleep the previous night. I’d found her outside of the nest. Her head was draped over her paws, and she opened her eyes as soon as I moved. When I asked her why she was sleeping there, she completely ignored the question. 

We didn’t even reach the Dungeon until long after noon. Before that Eve and I engaged in a long, silent march East. I didn’t even attempt to ask Eve if we were stopping for lunch. We hadn’t stopped for breakfast either. I simply had to make do with a pawful of Pecha berries from my bag. We did stop to rest though as we finally reached the base of the mountains. The air was laden with moisture, and the distinct smell of the sea. 

Several times I tried to start a conversation with Eve, but she simply ignored me. She just continued on, shoulders hunched and tail dragging along the ground behind her. From what little I could see of her face, her gem was still performing that erratic flicker from the night before. Psychically, she wouldn’t let me anywhere near my mind. The surface level readings of her head that I got were simply chaos. I knew her better than anyone, and I couldn’t make any sense of what she was thinking.

I felt helpless, like I had countless times before. This was the first time though that the helplessness was paired with guilt. The first time I’d caused the problem I couldn’t fix. Eve wouldn’t talk to me, I had no idea what the matter even was and I couldn’t unlock my own memories either to find out what we had blocked for each other. I simply had to press on and hope that something would change.

Slowly we made our way up the mountain, towards Alpine Mysts. I think it was then that it finally registered to me that we had done it. At the peak of that Mountain, my family was waiting. Despite Eve’s distress, I couldn’t help the excitement coursing through my body. By nightfall I would have my family again.

“I know you are going through something right now, but I am so excited for you to meet them.” Eve remained silent, and she gave no indication that she was listening. Still, I couldn’t let the dead air stand between us. I needed something. 

“There is so much I could tell you about them Eve. Blaze, my sister, well you know what growing up with an older sister is like. Of course there is the typical sibling rivalry. She used to tease me endlessly about the stuff she knew would get to me. But she was also so protective of me. If anyone messed with me, she’d be there wand ablaze. She saved my life once. Did I ever tell you that?

“I was...eleven maybe. A year past when I was supposed to have evolved. There was a small forest behind my house, and I used to wander it for hours searching for the stick that would eventually become my wand. I’d already tested all of the sticks on the ground, but none of them seemed to resonate with me. Of course, I was a Fennekin. Even if I had found my wand, I would never know it. Eleven year old me though decided that my destined stick would be higher up in the trees. Despite my parents many objections and scoldings I started climbing trees. One day though I slipped from the branch I was on. I was headed headfirst towards the ground. I probably would have snapped my neck if I had landed, but my sister caught me. She was leaning out of her bedroom window, her own wand extended desperately. Not only did she save my life, but she also didn’t tell our parents about it. It was our secret.”

The mountain path doubled back on itself as we climbed higher and higher into the mountains. Sooner than I expected though we reached the Dungeon. I guess that made sense though. In my visions of the cliff by the sea I hadn’t been high up at all. Since Eve still wasn’t talking, I continued on, simply filling the dead air. Occasionally I could feel tiny sparks of power from Eve, all of them almost stinging when they hit me. She has a lot going on, I reasoned, so some of her power must be leaking.

“My mother. She is the sweetest Pokemon I ever met, present company excluded of course. She’s brilliant, and fierce too. Not quite as powerful as my father, but her power in Psychic would make your head spin. Sometimes literally. You two would have gotten along so well. She always had a book with her, and she would spend any free time she had reading it. There was this one week, years ago in the spring, when it rained the whole week straight. It wasn’t exactly safe for us to go out so we were basically trapped inside. She made it through at least a book a day. She told us that she made it through fifteen books that week, and I believe her.”

Eve took the lead, or at least the best she could while we were employing the tried and oh-so-slow method of trial and error Dungeon navigation. At every dead end she’d simply turn around and start off in the opposite direction with the same stomping stride as before. If I was in her way, she wouldn’t even slow down. It was up to me to get out of her way. 

Even by those standards though this Dungeon was frustrating to navigate. Like when we were looking for Enzo, we had to thoroughly search each floor. If we missed the door, it would be impossible to go back and get it. Not helping was the fact that it was a supremely powerful Dungeon. Four ley lines kind of powerful. 

It was beautiful though. Canyons made from rust-red stone sliced through the mountains. The foliage above was a thick, beautiful green which stood out brilliantly against the sky. As we marched though it quickly faded into a subtle orange color. I stepped up my speed, overtaking Eve in the process. Time was short. If we didn’t find the door soon we’d have to stop for the night.

“My father though, he taught me everything. He was my hero. Still is really. I don’t really know where to begin with him. He was a semi-retired researcher with the Society. He was never an explorer, but his enchanting abilities got him in as a consultant with the Society. I never really knew exactly what he did, the theory was beyond me, but he loved it. He was also pretty handy as well. I mean, I told you already about the trapdoor setup that he used to save me that night, but he built most of that house himself. There were enchantments worked into every stone and plank within that house. Unfortunately none of them were fireproofing, or at least not powerful fireproofing.”

I trailed off, unsure of what so say next. “He was a good ‘mon,” I concluded, “they all were. I’m so excited to see them again. Desperately excited to bring them back.”

For the first time all day Eve spoke, her voice little more than a low rasp. “I’m glad. You’ve been waiting so long. I’m happy for you.”

I smiled encouragingly at her. She didn’t seem ready to talk about what her memory had been, but this was a good start at least. “And I have you to thank for it. There is no way I would have found the Dreamstone without your help. Thank you Eve.” I thought the praise would cheer her up, but by her expression you would have thought I had hit her. She retreated back into her shell, curling back into the hunched posture she had carried all day. She pushed past me, leaving me to awkwardly scramble to keep up.

I might’ve, I should’ve, pressed her on it but then the path opened up in front of us. Larger rooms were common in Dungeons of course, but this one felt significant. There were two paths on either end of the roughly elliptical space, an entrance and an exit. But along one of the walls was a third path blocked by a pair of tall, slate-gray, stone doors. They stood nearly thirty feet in height, together describing an arch-like shape. The split where they opened was so seamless, it was completely indistinguishable from the rest of the stone. A slight shimmer around the edges showed that it was somehow an exit from the Dungeon, but also told me that the only way was through. The Dungeon would thwart any attempts to climb or fly over.

The most important detail though was the intricate carving that spanned across the top. It was the promised Dreamstone symbol, just like we had expected. But it was somehow more than that. The larger shape was filled in with layer upon layer of smaller intricate carvings. The jagged right half suddenly resembled flowing flames, the stone carvings seemed to move within the structure. The smooth left half didn’t move, but the carvings seemed to stretch deeper into the stone, sinking impossibly deep. This was it. This was it. We were finally-

There was a presence in my mind. For a moment, I was panicked until I realized how familiar the presence was. Eve. Her probe was powerful. Even if I’d wanted to, or had been prepared for it I doubt I could’ve gathered enough power to prevent her from entering my mind. She moved with purpose to the front of my mind, her haste making her movements rougher than she probably intended. I knew what she was after and just managed to get out, “Eve, wait,” before she broke open my mental lock.

My back arched, the world around me fading away as the memories washed over me. 

_ "...You have to promise me that when I find the Dreamstone that you let me go to it… I need you to promise that when I find it you will sever all ties with me and we can go our separate ways…” _

“ _...You tell Vix all this stuff about being a family. About how we always have to be there for each other! And you just plan on bailing once you get what you want...” _

_ “...Eve, what happens after I find the Dreamstone? I bring my family back, and then what? Do I say to them, ‘Hey so I have these friends and this job halfway across the Continent so I’m going to leave you even though you just came back. So bye’?...” _

Everything snapped back into sharp focus. I could only stand there, paralyzed, and stare blankly up at the symbol engraved in the door. No, I thought numbly, that can’t… I simply couldn’t process these new memories.

“I’m sorry Slink,” her voice was strained, choked with barely contained emotion. Her mind was finally open to me, if only to show me the shock and pain she had been feeling. In the moment, I had no idea how she had kept it bottled up inside for the last day, especially alone. “But I couldn’t let you go any further without knowing.”

I felt like I had been punched in the gut. No matter how much I gasped, I simply couldn’t get even a gulp of air. My stomach boiled and twisted, and for a moment I feared that I would throw up right there in front of the doors. But the worst pain was a dull ache in my heart.

“Eve, I…” what was there to say? It felt like the whole world was crashing down around me. “There...we.. Eve this can’t-”

“Slink, you know it is real. You know it is.” She hung her head, closing her eyes. “How could we be this stupid, Slink? From the beginning, day one, you and I both knew this would just be a temporary thing. I should have stopped this before it could get out of hand.”

I wanted to close my eyes. I wanted to curl into a ball and lay there until the end of time, but no, this was a conversion we needed to have. There was so much I wanted to say, to shout, to scream. I refused to believe that this had to be the end, but all I could say was, “I’m so sorry Eve. I never wanted things to turn out like this.”

Eve finally looked up at those words, her gaze like a physical weight. “Then why?” There was a note of anger in her voice, but mostly it sounded like desperation. A need to understand. “Why did you have us forget? Why did you do the one thing that meant things would have to end like this?”

“Because...I never wanted to make the choice. It was always one or the other, you guys  _ or  _ my family and I just… I couldn’t. I knew that if either of us remembered what would have to happen, then we would never be able to connect. Neither of us would let us grow to be anything more than teammates.”

“So you were just setting us all up for heartbreak? At least I chose this. Vix and the others, they never got a say in any of this. Do you realize what this is going to do to them? I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to say to Vix.”

She was right, and I knew that. But in the moment I simply couldn’t face that. “And what about you?” I argued back. “You went along with it. You locked up your memories too. You could have prevented this. So, why?”

“Because I cared about you Slink.” She practically shouted it at me, and I didn’t blame her. “The things you told me, about being family… I didn’t want to lose that. You were in the hospital, you’d nearly died. Slink, you and Vix were all I had in the world and I thought that if I didn’t do this you’d stop being the family I needed right then. I couldn’t think in the long term, I was just waiting to see where things would go. Maybe, eventually, if we got far enough, something would change…”

In that moment I felt the badge token digging into my shoulder. Now though it felt as heavy as a Snorlax. So much of me wanted to pull it out, to show it to her, but I held back. I had to know if that was even possible. “Eve come on. There has to be something we can do. We can figure something out, right?” 

Eve laughed. It was a hollow, bitter sound, devoid of any humor. “What has changed since that night? After everything they’ve been through, there is no way your family will want to come back to the Fire Continent. Maybe if you were even a Continent away we might have, but we’re talking oceans apart. I’m just not sure we can do it.  _ My  _ family is still on the Fire Contient, I can’t just leave it. And that’s all Vix has known. We can’t just all uproot our lives.”

“You can’t, or you won’t? Vix will be happy wherever we are, and none of the others have any ties to the Fire Continent. So who exactly are you staying for?”

“I still have family on the continent, Slink. I can’t just leave.”

“Family you haven’t spoken to in over a year.” I said incredulously. “Family who never supported you. Family who, only a couple of weeks ago, you were  _ afraid _ to tell about us. We can’t make this work, despite everything we’ve been through, because of them?”

“Yes,” she snapped, “ I told you, I don’t want to cut them out of my life. I...I can’t be that far away from them. Being a continent away is already hard enough. I still care about my siblings. I still care about my parents no matter what they’ve done. They are my family, and if there is a way to get them back I have to do it.” She sighed, her shoulders slumping further. “I’d have thought that you of all Pokemon would understand that.”

“This is different,” I tried to argue, but Eve cut me off.

“Slink, the idea of losing you is physically painful. Last night when you unlocked the memory I thought I was going to die from the hurt. But I can’t go. I need to repair things with them and I can’t do that from so far away. I never wanted to choose Slink, I never thought I would need to. I’m sorry, but this is what I have to do.”

My paw fell away from my bag.  “I understand.” I said quietly. I couldn’t show her. Not when I knew it would only cause both of us more pain. We were both silent, knowing what had to happen, but neither of us wanting it to. 

Finally Eve moved. She lunged towards me, pressing herself as close as possible. She had her nose pressed into me, taking a final deep breath as she rubbed her cheek against my throat. Her paw came up behind my neck, pulling me even closer. 

Then she was gone, she moved away with that same determined step that I so admired in her. “I guess this is where I leave you. I don’t think things will get any easier by staying.” The whole time she spoke, she still didn’t turn to face me. “I know you Slink. Don’t follow. Don’t come back, because I don’t want to make you choose… _ again _ …” the last word I barely heard. Merely a breath on the wind. “Goodbye Slink.”

I could only watch as her shoulders hunched, her paw coming up to her chest . A burst of green light, and she was gone.


	20. The Dreamstone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long break. Holiday stuff you know. Only one last chapter before we are caught up with the FFN version.

I was numb. 

That was the only word for it. Numb. I didn’t know what I felt; I didn’t know what I should feel. Part of me was angry and upset, but an equal part of me was wracked with guilt. Fire and Psychic were both gone, leaving that horrid, hollow feeling.

So much of me wanted to press my badge. To follow her and… And what? What could I possibly say to her? The situation still wouldn’t have changed. I’d promised I would find the Dreamstone and bring my family back, and she couldn’t leave her family either. All that would do is hurt both of us and force me to redo two days of travel to get back here. I just wish there was something I could say, something I could do. Some way to properly say goodbye.

I pulled out the badge token and held it it my paw. I hadn’t wanted to show her it, but that also meant I hadn’t been able to return it. The theft hadn’t seemed so bad since I planned to give it back to her. Now I just felt guilty that I still had it. She’d probably need it now more than ever. I squeezed it in my paw, and the sharp edges bit into me. I stopped just before I would have broken my skin, and simply stared at the thing before shoving it back into my bag. Even if I never saw her again, I would get the stone back to her. I promised myself that.

Perhaps I should have been wary of making yet another promise.

There was only one thing left to do. I turned in place to find the doors still looming over me. They somehow looked less glorious than they had only a minute ago. The setting sun cast deep shadows over the face, mostly obscuring the intricate carvings in the door. I didn’t care anymore about the carvings, and I hardly cared that I was at the door. All I cared about now was just getting to the other side and finally finishing this quest. 

I rummaged through my bag, pulling out the first crystal that came to my paw. Phoenix had told me that I only needed a single key to open this gate, but I couldn’t see how. The only indentation in the door was the large Dreamstone Symbol, but that was larger than all four of the keys combined. There were no other keyholes from what I could see.

As soon as I revealed the key I felt a pulse of Psychic power. The crystal within my paw started to glow with a faint inner light, and the door before me shimmered like tiny diamonds had been embedded in the stone. The shard lifted off of my paw, seemingly suspended by its own power. The large symbol on the door flared with a warm orange light, as if the stone had faded away and left a hole for the setting sun to shine through.

The key let off a sudden pulse of Psychic energy before it fell back into my paw. A single rune flared to life at my eye-level in fiery red strokes. This was a rune that I recognized:  _ Open. _ Silently the two doors swung outwards, revealing the cliffside beyond. I squinted in the sudden light. I was staring right at the setting sun as it sat just on top of the horizon, its golden color bleeding down into the water. There was a slight disturbance between me and the other side of the door. A thin membrane stretched across the opening, like heat shimmering over a stove. The end of the Dungeon.

I hastily stuffed the crystal back into my bag before hurrying forward. The sun was sinking fast and the last thing I wanted was to be booted from the Dungeon this close to the finish. As I passed between the doors, I felt the characteristic layer of air pass over me, but the strangest thing was that once I was through it felt like little had changed. The oppressive Dungeon atmosphere still weighed on me, significantly lessened yes, but it was still there. The sensation was horrifyingly familiar.

It was just like the Hatred base. Past the door was another Dungeon. My shoulders started shaking, and they wouldn’t stop. I wanted to curl into a ball and stay that way. My Fire hadn’t faded in weeks, but all of a sudden I felt colder than I had since the day we faced Enzo. “You’re not there,” I whispered to myself. My legs were locked in place, frozen, even as my claws churned the soil beneath me . I was sick to my stomach, and the worst part came when I trying to calm myself down. I kept expecting a warm presence, Vix or Eve, mentally or physically, but they never came.

_ Deep breaths _ , I kept thinking, but my skin was still crawling as I forced myself to move even my leg. The only thing I could do was try and focus on the fact that the Dreamstone was close. It was just enough to keep myself moving. Still, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. How was this place a Dungeon? And what was keeping it from shifting?

The door slowly shut behind me, sealing the way back into the Dungeon. With all four keys in my bag though, I felt at least a little more secure. With the door closed, this was probably the only location on the planet where the Hatred couldn’t touch me.

The wind carried a chill that the other side of the door hadn’t. The air was thick and soupy, even more so than before. Each breath carried tangible weight and tasted strongly of salt. Great crashes shook the earth beneath my feet:  _ boom, boom, boom, _ each rhythmic blast splashing a fine mist over everything.

The cliffs stretched north, following the coastline as it curved just out of sight into what appeared to be a natural cove. There was no road or path, or at least not one I could find. Anywhere I moved I was forced to trudge through sharp wild grasses that scraped my underbelly. It was strangely supple and green despite the season. In several places there were strange angular protrusions of rock that sank and resurfaced within the sea of grass.

As I rounded the corner, the thin shelf of rock I stood on became wide plane, easily eighty yards across, nestled at the base of a sheer, chalky cliff. The space was wild, teeming with vegetation. But among the long grass and the brush-like trees there were things that felt...off. There were several geometrical patches among the flora, but I couldn’t tell exactly what they were. 

There was one thing, though, that was clearly out of place. In the center of the plane, sitting on a crooked plinth was a gorgeous marble statue of a Delphox. Grass and moss were doing their best to reclaim the stark white stone, but the subject still stood tall, head held high and wand extended toward the sky. It seemed that at one point there had probably been something at the tip of their wand, but the stone had been worn smooth with time and pitted from the seawater. Those finer details had long since been erased. 

The ground beneath my feet was jagged. More of those oddly angular rocks---bricks, I realized---poked through the grass. The remnants of what had once been a town square. I looked around the space, realization slowly coming to me. This was it. This  _ was  _ the village my grandfather had built.

I made my way around the square trying to make sense of what I was seeing. There were dozens of mounds. On closer inspection, I found that they were all burned-down buildings that were quite quickly being swallowed by nature. From the size of the wreckage, whatever buildings they had been were large. Like the house Phoenix had given us (the team, I reminded myself; I wasn’t a part of it anymore), it was large enough for several generations of a growing family.

I wondered what this place had looked like in its prime. I could almost see it: stone buildings made from gleaming white rock, Fennekin and Braixen chasing each other through the square while their parents watched, laughing. This was supposed to be a happy place, but all that was left was a memory of what might have been. 

As much as I wanted to continue looking around, that wasn’t my goal. I wasn’t about to get distracted by anything. The crumbling bricks formed a path that continued along the grassy clifftop. Further down the path another building was thankfully still standing.

There it was. I recognized it in a heartbeat. It was a temple. It was  _ the _ temple. Much like the rest of the village, the building wasn’t in the best repair. Half of the walls and pillars had crumbled, the remaining red stone overgrown with grass and ivy. The grand archway still stood strong, a dark mouth yawning wide. Above it, clearly etched into the stone, was the Dreamstone symbol. I brought my foreleg up, and bit into it. It hurt, but it proved to me that it wasn’t a dream or an illusion. A soft breeze washed out of the doorway. It was warm, friendly. It was a feeling I normally associated with Eve and Vix, with my parents and sister. It felt like home.

I’d made this same journey so many times in my dreams. The short, dark tunnel that I knew by heart led me back into the central chamber. The perfectly round stone room, the circular skylight above sending a single shaft of waning sunlight onto the sloped floor. Every surface was covered in odd etchings, and while they all seemed merely decorative I could swear that the patterns changed every time I looked away. 

My stomach churned as I entered the chamber. Being there for real exposed me to an oppressive atmosphere which brought back the worst kind of memories. For the briefest moment, the central courtyard of the Hatred’s base overshadowed the chamber. My stomach lurched at how similar the two places were. Was there a reason? Was it intentional? The feeling only lasted a second before the warmth of the chamber returned. I was being ridiculous, right? 

Slowly, I followed the slope of the floor to the center of the room. There, directly beneath the shaft in the roof was the same oily, black pool I had seen in my dreams. It was smaller than I had thought, being just over a foot in diameter. What the dreams couldn’t have prepared me for however was the sheer amount of power that the pool gave off. The air around it sizzled with energy, a tell-tale shimmer coating it like a second skin. I was all but certain that this was the source of the Dungeon.

I didn’t dare touch it, and I was also careful not to look at it too closely. I remembered what I had seen reflected in the shimmering colors last time. I just needed to activate the Dreamstone and revive my family. I didn’t need those visions tempting me.

There. On the floor, amidst the numerous intricate carvings, was a far simpler one. Four indentations, all together describing the Dreamstone shape. I fished in my bag again, and pulled out the first key to come to paw. It was the tip of the left “wing” of the symbol. I pressed the crystal into place with a soft click. It fit perfectly, and the moment it was placed it started to glow with an inner golden light. It was faint but gave off immense warmth.

I fumbled with my bag, practically dumping the contents onto the floor of the temple. The other three shards were glowing as well with the same light. I swiped them up quickly, pressing them into their proper places. The glow grew brighter and brighter with each key.

Finally it was time to place the final key. My heart leapt as I maneuvered it into the groove. This was it. Mission accomplished.

It clicked into place.

The keys began to tremble, flaring even brighter than before. The sun had set by this point, but despite this sunlight poured down from the skylight, spotlighting the pool directly beneath it. The floor beneath me seemed to shift, rolling like creatures were crawling beneath it. Then a rune flickered to life by my foot. Then another. Then another. On nearly every square inch in the room, red embers of light appeared. There had to have been at least a million runes, and I could feel their power washing over me in waves, all of it flowing toward the pool in the center. 

My paws were growing numb from how violently the floor was shaking. The glare from the thousands of glowing and flickering objects was starting to give me a headache. I closed my eyes for a moment, willing it to stop, and then it did. I opened my eyes, and there it was. 

The Dreamstone.

It floated a few feet above the floor, suspended within a shaft of golden light. It was a flat disc, perfectly round, and slowly rotating on end. I’d seen opals before, and that was the closest thing I could compare it to. It was a silver white color, but with a prismatic sheen. Light glinted off of it, flashing rainbows across the surface. The four keys were no longer on the floor. They had fused into the full symbol and framed the stone. I could just hear a soft hum emanating from it.

This was it. The moment I had been waiting for since my father had closed the lid on that box. I opened my mouth, but I had no idea what to do, what to say. I was so tired, and now at the finish line there was yet another obstacle. “I...I just want my family back.” All I had left in me was that simple plea. I had no hope that it would work, that it would be answered. But somehow it was enough. As soon as the words passed my lips, the Dreamstone stilled. Then it started to spin. Slowly at first, but then it turned faster. Then faster. Faster. Faster until each rotation was completely indistinguishable. It simply became a ball of light that seemed to fill the entire room.

It stopped. All at once. Returning in an instant back to its slow rotation. I looked around desperately. Where were they? They had to be here right? “Mom! Dad! Blaze!” There was nobody else in the room. Just me and the Dreamstone.

Then I heard a voice by the entrance. “Slink, my brave, brave boy. You did it.” I turned slowly, my heart pounding harder until finally I was face to face with my father. 

“Dad!” I couldn’t help myself. I started running towards him. All I wanted was to feel his embrace. I wanted to feel his warmth. The smell of his fur. Tears were freely streaming down my cheeks, but I didn’t care. 

“Slink, wait-“ he tried to warn, but it was too late. I leapt at him, planning on leaping into his arms like I’d done a thousand times as a child. My aim was perfect as I landed on his chest paws first...

And passed right through him.

I barely managed to catch myself. Once I did, though, I stood frozen in place. No, this wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. I forced myself to turn around and walk right up to my father. I stretched out a paw, and swiped at his leg. It was like he wasn’t even there.

“I...I...I don’t… I don’t understand.” My voice broke, true defeat washing over me, draining me. My body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. I was being crushed under my own weight. My mind was spinning, trying to rationalize, trying to figure out some way to prove that this wasn’t real.

“I’m so, so, sorry Slink,” my father said. He fell to his knees in front of me. “I’m not really here, or at least not all of me is.” He reached out with a paw, and put it onto my shoulder. If I closed my eyes, I imagined I could feel a slight warmth emanating from that point. “The Dreamstone is powerful, Slink, but there are certain lines that even Arceus can’t cross. This small fragment of our souls is as close as we can come.”

“We?” My voice cracked as I latched onto the only shred of hope I had left.

My father gave a half-smile. “You didn’t think I’d come alone? We all wanted to see you, just as much as you wanted to see us again. It just takes time to cross that veil.”

“You’re here,” a new voice said. There were no footsteps, no physical evidence of another Pokemon, but I could feel a presence approach us. Before I could turn to find out, a blur of deep red fur filled my vision. I felt the sensation of constriction, but nothing was actually holding me in place. That phantom warmth surrounded me.

“M-mom?” I stammered, feeling the frozen pit in my chest open up once again. Not being able to touch my father had been heartbreaking enough, but to be unable to feel my own mother’s embrace was its own torture. 

“I am so proud of you, my little kindle,” my mother said. “I know it isn’t what you wanted, but you found your way back to us.” She backed up, settling to my father’s left on her knees. She stared at me, her eyes glistening. They both just looked at me. I remembered the same look on Eve’s face when the Hatred had taken me. They were memorizing my face, like they’d never see it again.

“Come on you two, I think you owe the kid an explanation. He’s been through enough,” a third voice butted in. “Just tell him. This is torture to me, and I know everything.” I didn’t even look up as my sister walked up to us, sitting on the other side of my father. “Hey kid. Congratulations, you found us. It’s good to see you.” She smiled at me before leaning forward to kiss my cheek. In life, I’d always hated it. Now I would have given anything to feel her kiss.

“Tell me what? Please, I just wanted to see you guys again. I just wanted you back.”

“But Slink,” my father began, saying the one thing I had dreaded hearing since I started this fruitless search, “that isn’t what the Dreamstone is for.”

My legs turned to liquid. I sat down so that I wouldn’t fall down. I could only stare forward blankly, my brain comprehending his words a thousand times, but rejecting the conclusion each and every time. This couldn’t be. It simply couldn’t. Slowly the defeat and disappointment I was feeling turned to anger and frustration. “Then what are you doing here? If that isn’t what the Dreamstone is for, why did you even come back? Why the hell did you have me do all of this for nothing?!”

“If you’re going to blame anyone, blame me,” my father said bowing his head. He wore an expression I’d never seen on his face before. Shame. “As for why I had you find the Dreamstone… I wanted you to use it to stop the Hatred.”

The three Delphox before me paused, gauging my reaction. Honestly I didn’t know what to say. In less than five minutes everything had been turned completely upside down. I had reached my goal, but now another had been placed before me, this one even further away. “Tell me.“ It was all I could say. 

My father bowed his head, his paws balling into fists. “There is so much we have to tell you, Slink. So much that we should have told you so long  ago.  “My father told me once about the Hatred he knew. They started working for the Expedition Society around the same time as one another. They were a small team, Team Ambition if I remember correctly. They were just another Team then, and a good one at that. There was one more thing about them though. All three founding members were shiny.”

“They worked for the Expedition Society?” I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous that notion was. “Oh Arceus, Eve would love this. I can’t wait...to…” I trailed off, unable to even finish the thought. “You were saying?” I prompted. 

My father raised an eyebrow, and I knew he would question me about that later. “They worked for years, lending vital support during the Dark Matter disaster. But they came across a problem. I’m sure you’ve seen it too. They were shinies, in a world where shinies are treated horribly. Team Ambition always tried to fight for them They recruited those in bad situations. Some of them didn’t do much work for the Society, but they were in a safer place, even if it was just for a while.

“Eventually the Society couldn’t let them continue. The Team technically had thirty members, but only the core five or six were actually active Explorers. They required that the team disband, but Ampharos gave them funding to create something that was supposed to work better. 

“They called their new organization the ‘Ambitious Dream’. It was a shelter, a home, where those who needed a safe place could go. It was open to anyone who needed them, but as you can expect, the majority of Pokémon they helped were shiny.”

“Shane always told me that helping shiny Pokémon was what the Hatred was for.” I shook my head. “That may be how they started but now...what happened to them?”

My father reached over and silently joined hands with my mother and sister. For a moment I felt a thrill of envy that they could touch, that is until I noticed that their hands were passing through each other as well. “That’s when he joined, the one who killed us. Smoke.”

A burst of rage flowed through my system, the fur on my shoulders catching fire. “Smoke,” I echoed. “I can understand that  _ he  _ was the one to turn things around.”

“But you don’t know the why or the how,” my father said. “My father told me about him years ago, but I didn’t put it all together until I saw him myself. Did Phoenix tell you about what happened to the Dark Matter?”

I paused. “He didn’t. I thought it had been destroyed.

Dad shook his head. “No, I mean what came immediately after. What happened to Dark Matter. My father and Phoenix told me about it when I came of age. They told me about how after they dealt the finishing blow, the monster exploded. Phoenix was weak and exhausted, and John was hurt and on the brink of consciousness, but they both remembered Dark Matter practically vaporizing on the spot after Phoenix hit it that final time. Neither of them thought about what had happened to those bits of Dark Matter. They had survived, they had saved the world. Why should they have to worry about Dark Matter ever again? And by all rights they shouldn’t have had to worry about it. 

“Most reports from the small percentage of Pokemon who hadn’t been turned to stone recalled a ‘black rain’ that fell that day. Those tiny motes of Dark Matter fizzled out as soon as they hit the ground. There were some larger chunks that fell as well, but they were pretty much harmless. Pokemon researchers did find that these larger chunks of Dark Matter grafted themselves to objects, giving them...unique properties. Organic matter, trees and flowers, were turned to stone as you might expect. There were reports of stones that absorbed the Dark Matter, taking on some strange properties and often a darker color. Honestly I have no idea how you managed to find one. They are insanely rare, and most are in researcher’s collections.” I had no idea what he was talking about, so I just waved for him to continue.

“John and Phoenix didn’t worry about it. They had enough on their plates between John finding Mew, and Phoenix trying to rebuild both the Expedition Society and the Luminous Spring. It was only years later when they first arrived at the Fire continent when they came across it again, Dark Matter.”

“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “Phoenix told me that Dark Matter was gone. That it couldn’t have formed a consciousness again. Why didn’t he tell me that it was still alive?”

“That’s the thing,” my mother said shaking her head, “Phoenix didn’t know. John never told him. It was during one of John’s early visits to the Fire Continent. He had gone ahead to ready accommodations for the both of them to move there. While he was there, he bumped into one of the Ambitious Dream’s founders. The two had met previously when Team Ambition still worked over on the Water Continent. The Nuzleaf invited him over to visit their new Headquarters. It was there that John felt a presence he never thought he would again. Dark Matter. 

“I don’t think he knew what to expect. What or who Dark Matter would be. I do know that John didn’t expect to find a small Shiny Froakie, only a few years younger than him at that point.  The child was trotting along behind a shiny Simipour, chatting happily with some of the other children who were wandering the halls. John didn’t knew what to do. This child was Dark Matter, or maybe Dark Matter was the child. If even a tiny spark of sentient Dark Matter existed, it would eventually grow to once again threaten the world. 

“At the same time though, it was a child. John couldn’t just kill him. So he did the only thing he could. He used his Psychic on the Froakie. Having only recently become a Braixen, and thus only having slight control over Psychic, John had a bit of trouble. But the child, being young and at the time without any Dark Type power, was susceptible. John searched the child’s mind, looking for any sign of the Dark Matter. His biggest fear was that the Dark Matter had, or would, overshadow the Froakie. But he found no trace of it in the Froakie’s mind. Dark Matter was truly dead, its residual power was left to Smoke to do whatever he wanted with it. Phoenix never knew. ”

“And, Smoke used that power to create the Hatred!” I growled, my anger getting the better of me for a moment. “He used it to ruin so many lives. Smoke used that power to hurt and threaten and kill so many Pokemon. The people from Eve’s village, Vix’s mother… you guys. John and Phoenix should have stopped him then. Would’ve been so much better.”

My dad cocked his head at me. “You would have had John kill a child just because of what he could have become? Your grandfather seemed to think differently. He thought that Smoke had just as much potential to do good. To help the Ambitious Dream. Instead he made a choice, to use it in a different way.

“It was nearly twenty years after his visit that the Ambitious Dream finally crossed the point of no return. Up to then they were becoming more and more dangerous; pushing the boundaries of what the Expedition Society allowed them to do. I remember a few times they were cited for taking Pokemon from their homes and families without the consent of the parents. A precursor to the kidnappings they became known for. A certain Frogadier kept appearing, and he was always the one arguing for more. More room, more funding, more power, and eventually more violent tactics. 

“My father never told me about the night when the Ambitious Dream went too far. I was almost of age when it happened, and all I know was that a full team of Expedition Society Pokemon were killed. I remember dad getting called away that night, the Society trying to round up the killers. By the time he got there they were all gone. Most of the Ambitious Dream had fled. The only Pokemon left behind were asleep, very confused, and unfortunately most of them got arrested by the Expedition Society despite their innocence. That is truly when the Hatred was created, and I know that is when your grandfather’s mission started. He threw himself into it, committing right up to the moment he died.”

I rubbed my forehead. I was exhausted, and this wasn’t helping. “What does any of this have to do with me? Why am I the one to fight the Hatred?”

My father opened his mouth to answer, but my sister cut across him quickly. “Oh Arceus, enough with the history lesson. Look Slink, nobody, even John, knew who the Fennekin would be that would fight the Hatred. He set things up so that there are several things that you need to access the Dreamstone. First, you need the four crystal keys. He hoped--fruitlessly I might add--that they would limit those with access to the Dreamstone to Pokémon he trusted.” Blaze rolled her eyes before continuing. “ That , as you can see, will unlock this much of the Dreamstone. So that you can talk to us. I think John left that so that he could explain things to whatever Fennekin eventually showed up. The last thing, is that only a Fennekin can unlock the true power of the Dreamstone. Slink, nobody knew it was going to be you. You were just in the right place at the right time. It could have been anyone.”

“But it wasn’t just anyone. The Hatred were after me before you sent me to find the Dreamstone.” My frustration was just about to boil over. “Why me?”

The three of them exchanged looks, none of them wanting to answer. Eventually my father spoke. “Like I said. If you are going to blame anyone, blame me.  _ I  _ chose you for this.”

I was speechless. Once again my mind refused to believe what he was saying. “What do you mean?”

“You were only a year-and-a-half old when John collapsed on our doorstep, delirious. It was awful, Slink, and if there is one thing I am grateful for regarding our deaths, it is that they were quick. You didn’t have to see your father waste away like I did mine. He would have terrible coughing fits and fainting spells. Some days he knew exactly who and where he was, and other days he didn’t even know my name. Eventually…” his voice trembled, “...he faded away. After so much suffering he finally passed on.” He hung his head, his paws pressing against the ground so hard I was impressed the stone hadn’t cracked. “One of the last lucid things that he told me...was to beware of Smoke. I still don’t know what exactly killed my father, but I am certain that the Hatred had something to do with it.

“That was when I also realized something important. The Hatred knew who we were. They certainly didn’t know where we were, at least not yet. Otherwise they would have broken down our door long before John died. Either way, I knew that eventually they would come for us. We could move, I supposed, but if they knew about any of us they certainly knew about you. You were John’s grandson, his direct heir, the only one who could still be considered a threat to them. You probably won’t remember; you were only seven at the time, but the Hatred attacked us once before. Back then we still lived in a house just south of Festive Town. It was all your mother and I could do to hold them off until members of the Society came. That is when I moved us to Lake Ogon. I thought isolation and anonymity would be enough to keep you safe.

“That’s when I made my decision. You had to be the one to find the Dreamstone. It was the only way you would be safe from them. I didn’t think the Hatred would kill us that night, that is, until Smoke entered the room. Do you know what the last thing he said to us was?  _ The line ends tonight. _ It confirmed for me that I had made the right choice. It wasn’t just about you or me or Xen. It was about anyone who could have stopped the Hatred, could have stopped Smoke. Anyone who could have passed John’s mission on. Whatever else, I thought that sending you after the Dreamstone was the best chance of keeping you alive. Be mad if you need to, but I did it to save you.”

“But how did you know I would stay a Fennekin?” I asked.

My father didn’t look at me. Instead he raised his hand, ghostly wand clutched within, until it was pointed at my chest. A tiny pulse of Psychic flared from his wand, striking me. No, striking my grey pendant. A single, fire-red rune appeared for the briefest moment before fizzling out.  _ Unnoticed.  _ Everything suddenly came together. Everstone. I’d seen the rock before in books, but I had never made the connection. Then I realized, of course, I wasn’t meant to.

“It was my idea,” my mother admitted. “The stone and the enchantment. You never questioned it. We knew that you would never notice long enough to take it off, and neither would your enemies.” She grimaced. “Part of me wishes it hadn’t worked so well.”

I stared at the triangular grey stone I’d carried my whole life, only half hearing what my mother had to say. I clutched it tight, squeezing it so hard that my toes went numb. So many thoughts raced through my mind. I wanted to tear it off, get the thing as far from my body as possible. But an equal part begged for me to keep it. To let it fall back to my chest and forget about it once again.

My mother was in tears, staring down at the floor. My father, though, firmly met my gaze. The shame was still etched into his face, but I respected the fact that he could still face me. “Like I said, my only goal was keeping you alive. If I could do it all again, I’d still give you the Everstone.”

I was silent for the longest time, trying to process the emotions that were running rampant in my head. Fire and Psychic fought for dominance, making me feel as though I was simultaneously in the middle of a freezing rain and in a scorching desert. I bowed my head, closing my eyes. Honestly, I didn’t know how to feel. Anger and pain mixing perfectly with disappointment and understanding. 

“Slink, say something at least. Talk to me.” My father was almost begging for a reaction. I just didn’t have one. Everything was so tangled, so screwed up, that all I could come up with was a stony silence. There would be time later to figure out my feelings, but for now there were still two big things left unanswered. 

“Phoenix said that the Dreamstone could do anything. So what am I supposed to do with it? Do I just  _ wish  _ the Hatred away? I’m still just a Fennekin. What could I possibly do, even with its power?” 

My father flinched at the sudden change of subject. He looked like he wanted to press me on it, to continue talking, but the look on my face convinced him to stay focused. “The thing is that John created the Dreamstone so that only a Fennekin can use it, yes, but a Fennekin is also the only Pokemon who can make use of the Dreamstone.”

“What do you mean?”

“Slink, have you ever felt odd, especially when you were under stress? I told you years ago that our species can’t use Fire and Psychic at the same time. And that is true, at least for Briaxen and Delphox. Fennekin, however, can, although they normally evolve before they have any Psychic power. It was your grandfather who discovered it. Because of...certain circumstances he didn’t evolve until he was fifteen. He called it his dreamstate. According to him, strange things happen when Fire and Psychic meet.  He even claimed it would let him use Psychic on Dark Types. I don’t think even he knew exactly what he was capable of.

“He also said that it was difficult to activate the dreamstate. Normally it needs Psychic and Fire to be in perfect balance. John said that he always spent more time trying to achieve it than he actually spent in it. The Dreamstone is supposed to make it easier. To expand the range where you can control both.”

“That’s it? Phoenix said that the Dreamstone could do anything, and that is all it does?” I couldn’t keep the frustration out of my voice.

“Phoenix has always been a bit...exuberant. Perhaps you noticed it. I respect the man, but he tends to be a bit overly-optimistic about things. The Dreamstone can do amazing things, but not ‘anything’. I’m sure it  _ could _ be used for most anything, but John designed it to do this. It’s changing your fundamental elemental biology. That takes a lot.” My mother glanced at the Dreamstone. “Although, like most things that Mew creates, the Dreamstone developed its own life. Sometimes it uses its power for what  _ it _ wants in unexpected ways .” I would have scoffed at the very idea until I remembered how the Dreamstone had seemingly answered my plea to see my family again. 

“So that is what John left behind.” I grumbled. “The damn dreamstate against the whole of the Hatred. I don’t care what Fire and Psychic can do together; that is still a suicide mission.”

“You don’t have to fight the whole Hatred, at least not alone. That was never John’s intent. Smoke is the one who turned the Ambitious Dream into a nightmare. He’s the one you need to defeat. This won’t stop the Hatred, but it will weaken it for sure. Smoke is dangerous with or without the organization. He must be stopped.” My father grimaced. “And you are running out of time.”

The way he said that, I felt like my body had been suddenly plunged into an icy bath. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s planning something. At what I can only guess.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I studied Pokemon energy, and of course I was also keeping an eye on the Hatred. I noticed things that others didn’t. Things that didn’t make sense. Every time the Hatred was spotted, they were always reported to have moves they shouldn’t.”

“Dark Void,” I muttered. “Shane and Smoke have both used it on me. How do they have that kind of power?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Dark Matter. Smoke is sharing it with the other Hatred members. I don’t know if they are even aware of it, but there is no doubt they have some of its power.”

“I’ve met Smoke,” I argued. “He’s not the kind to share anything, especially power. What would the point of sharing the Dark Matter even be?”

“To make more, of course,” my mother said. “Phoenix told you what Dark Matter is made of, right? Negative emotions. Envy, sadness…”

“...Hate,” I finished.

“For whatever reason, Smoke wanted more Dark Matter. What better way to make more than feeding it a steady diet of resentment from a group of shinies he cultivated.” 

My legs wobbled, so I laid down before I fell down. I pressed my forehead to the floor, the cool stone felt good, helped me keep myself steady. “So every passing day, every Pokémon who joins his ranks, he gets just a little bit stronger.” I snorted, little tongues of flame flickering in my nostrils. “And they all think he is there to help them.”

Strangely, when I opened my mouth, all I could do was laugh. Tears streamed down my cheeks, from mirth or anger or sadness I had no idea. It was all I could do in that moment. Faced with all of this, I could only laugh how absurd my life had become. And the worst part was the dreadful irony of the situation. Even yesterday, if someone had offered me a way to stop the Hatred, to destroy Smoke, I would have jumped at the chance. I would have eliminated my family’s killer without a second’s thought. Now though, faced with the offer, I didn’t want it. Not like this.

My father held up his hand. “There is one last thing I will tell you.  You have a choice to make Slink, and it has to be yours. I can’t force you into doing this.  There is one last thing the Dreamstone will do.” He paused, weighing the words he was about to say.

“As soon as you touch it, you will never evolve.”

I rolled my eyes, not quite recognizing what he meant. “Yeah, I know, only a Fennekin can use it. You told me that already.”

“No. I mean you will  _ never _ be able to evolve. The Dreamstone will leave its mark on you. If you are to use its power, it has to ensure that you cannot evolve while you are using it. Unfortunately, the effect will be permanent.” He grimaced. “The Everstone delayed your evolution, but if you spend a few days away from it you will eventually become a Briaxen. This, will be a life-altering change. I would never force you into this kind of thing. It has to be your choice.”

And there it was. The catch. Since I was ten, I had always dreamed of becoming a Delphox. I had learned everything I could from my father, my mother, my sister, always wanting to be able to use the same power as them. Now I was being told that the justice I wanted would cost me something that I had always wanted. The question was, which did I want more?

Maybe I was thinking about this the wrong way. Instead of thinking what it meant to accept the Dreamstone, maybe I should think about what it would mean if I didn’t. I still didn’t know how to feel about my parent’s trick with the Everstone, but I at least could understand it. If I didn’t do this, some other Fennekin some day would come to find the Dreamstone. And unless someone had pulled the same trick as my parents, they would be just a kid. The sudden image of Ash standing where I was, being told all of this by some other ghostly Delphox. She’d be terrified, even more so when she actually had to face the Hatred. What right did I have to force someone else to do this because of some childish desire? I was prepared for this, in a way that no other Fennekin would ever be. “Some choice,” I muttered to myself. Out loud I said, “I’ll do this. I have to.” I sighed, “Maybe it will give me something to work towards. At least for a while.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” My sister crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at me.

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You know, since the night you all died  _ this _ was my goal. This moment when I had found the Dreamstone and I finally got to see you again. It was the farthest point I could imagine. So now I have no idea what comes next. I had wanted a calm life with you and my team, but now I know that can’t happen… for several reasons. I have no idea what I’ll do with myself, assuming I even survive all of this.” 

“Its okay,” my mother interrupted extending a hand towards me. “You don’t have to decide now. Whatever you decide, it can wait a while. You’ve earned a rest. Besides, we’ve waited so long to see you again. We want to know about you.”

“Sure,” I said still partially focused on the problem. “Where do I even start?”

“Well first, how long have we been...gone?” Upon seeing my confusion my sister continued quickly. “Time moves differently where we are.”

“The festival of Xerneas was a few nights ago, the second one since you died. So a year and a half at least.”

“That long.” My father’s shoulders slumped. “Slink, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I set you up for this. I’m sorry I gave you so little guidance in your mission. You have to believe that I didn’t think we’d die that night. Worst case scenario, I thought Phoenix would reach out to you sooner. I’m sorry I wasted so much of your time.”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly wasted time.” I reached up and ran a paw over my badge. 

“Right,” my mother said cheerily, trying to change the subject, “you joined the Expedition Society. How is that? I always wondered about it, but I was happy as a writer.”

“It wouldn’t have been my first choice back then, but I do like it. There are some problems, and my team and I have nearly died a dozen times, but I enjoy it. Plus, if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have found three of the keys or found where the Dreamstone is. Really, I have my team to thank for that.”

“Your Team?” Dad asked. “You mentioned Eve and Vix before. Is that them?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “ Eve found me after everything fell apart.  She saved my life, the first time we met, and even after that she gave me a home. She may be the only reason I ever found the Dreamstone. As for Vix, well,she  made us a team.  The girl was so lost and alone, just like I was. Just like Eve was. She brought us together . They were… there were times when they were the only ones keeping me together.”

My father cracked a smile at that. “That’s what a team is for. I spent enough time working with the Society to know that. I didn’t expect you to join the Expedition Society, but at least I know you were safe there.”

“It was Eve’s idea,” I admitted. She needed someone to make a Team with her. It was just luck that she ran into me. Same with Vix too.”

“What happened? Why are you here alone?” My mother reached out, trying to put a hand on my shoulder. She ended with her paw half inside my shoulder but I appreciated the gesture. 

“Do we really have to talk about this? I’m not sure I have the energy for this.” The curious gazes from all around told me that wasn’t an option. “Look, I messed up.  _ We  _ both messed up. Eve and I. We both decided that… that it was time to part ways.”

“Slink, if you don’t mind me asking...were you guys just a team, or was there something more?”

“Together we built a family. They were two of the most important Pokemon in my life. Vix is my daughter -- adoptive daughter,” I clarified after a wide-eyed glance from my mother, “and before we came to the Mist Continent, I was going to ask Eve to be my mate. Before things fell apart, that’s what I wanted.” I sighed,  shifting uncomfortably. Once I did though I felt something shift in my bag. There was a soft  _ ting  _ as I heard something drop to the floor. 

“What is that?” My mother asked, leaning down to inspect it. Looking over I saw it was the badge token. 

“It’s nothing. That was the token I got for Eve. I’m not sure what to do with it now.”

“What’s up with the stone?” My sister asked, poking at the badge with a ghostly finger. 

“What do you mean?” I rushed over to see for myself, and pretty quickly I noticed that something was off about it. The Dark stone was no longer dark, or at least not completely dark. Half of it had turned a light grey, like quartz. The other half had deepened in color from its typical dark gray to a deep black. The boundary between the two halves wavered and pulsed, flowing like ooze.

I wasn’t sure what to even make of it. Carefully I lifted it with Psychic and floated it closer to me, being careful not to touch it. The new position had shifted the light and dark halves. The part facing me had turned white, and I assumed that the back had turned black. I shifted it this way and that, finding that the dark side was always the one closest to the center of the room. To the Dreamstone. 

My father was scratching his neck. He did that whenever he was lost in thought. “That stone… I’ve seen similar before in my studies. Unless I am severely mistaken that stone has Dark Matter. A substantial amount too. I think this is one of the stones I mentioned, that absorbed Dark Matter when it was destroyed. Where did you find one?”

“Eve had it. It came from…” Why did Shane have a piece of Dark Matter? Coincidence? I had no idea. I shoved it roughly into my bag. “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters anymore.”

“Of course it does,” my father argued. “ I can’t tell you what comes next. I’ve seen many possible futures for you. Whichever you fulfill is ultimately up to what you want.”

“What I want, might not matter anymore!” I snapped. “Honestly I don’t know what that is anymore. Eve told me not to come back, and honestly I’m not sure if it would be better for me to stay away.” I looked away from all three of them, in the only direction where I wouldn’t have to face any of the ghosts. “I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

A small voice in the back of my head whispered, “You know how to find out.” I dreaded what it might show me, but I still made myself look at the Dreamstone. It was still just floating there, but as I watched it stopped turning so that it’s flat side was facing me. Given the distance and the angle, there was no way I could have seen my reflection, yet there it was. I could see my own scared, haggard, face swimming within the silver-white gem. Just like in my dreams, the longer I looked the more my reflection changed. 

The image rippled, and suddenly I was staring into the eyes of a very different Fennekin. This one was lacking the weight that I had suddenly been forced to carry. He was happy, curled up with Eve and Vix.

Just as the image was coming into focus however, the reflection shifted again. Now the Fennekin had an angry determination to him. Flames sizzled off of his fur, but the air around him also seemed charged with power. Fire and Psychic. Together. Reflected in the Fennekin’s eyes I could see Smoke. And he was afraid. 

The vision shifted one more time. The Fennekin was sitting there once again with Eve at his side. And at their feet... my heart started pounding in my chest when I saw the egg. Just before the image faded I saw the egg shiver, the shell just beginning to crack. 

My father’s voice snapped me back to reality. “Slink, the day I died I told you that you would have a family even when we were gone. You told me yourself that you found it. So you messed up. That is no reason to just give up. Do you want them back in your life?”

“Yes,” I said it without hesitation, yet there was a small kernel of doubt still eating at me. “I just… it isn’t that simple.” I shook my head, blinking. My brain felt like mush. I could hardly focus, much less figure this out along with everything else. 

I felt that phantom warmth again as my mother attempted to put her hand under my chin. “Slink, honey, you’ve been through a lot today. You look terrible. Dawn is only a few hours away. The Dreamstone will still be here in the morning, and we aren’t going anywhere. Get some sleep.”

Sleep was exactly what I needed, but I was wary to take my attention away from my family. I had no idea how the Dreamstone worked, especially how summoning these ghosts worked. What if they vanished while I was asleep? Whatever I was feeling towards them, I didn’t want them to go, I didn’t want to be alone. Especially not so soon. “You guys won’t-”

“-We’ll stay with you, I promise. We will stay until either you or the Dreamstone leaves this chamber. We will watch over you as you sleep.” Her smile was honestly just what I needed in that moment. Despite the knot in my stomach, I relaxed. 

As if it understood what was happening, the Dreamstone’s glow dimmed. The shaft of light coming in from the ceiling now seeming like moonlight instead of sunlight. Most of the runes around the room put themselves out as well, the remaining ones twinkling like stars. 

The chamber had no leaves or grasses I could have used for a bed, but I was so tired it wasn’t going to matter. I curled up where I was, my stretch of cold, stone floor the same as any other. My bag made for a makeshift pillow, a luxury I didn’t need. Now that I had given myself permission to give in to my exhaustion, the bone-deep weariness I’d been suppressing returned full force. I knew the moment I closed my eyes I would be asleep. 

I felt more than saw the others shift closer, moving from kneeling to sitting. There was the faintest presence, a phantom feeling, of someone stroking my back before I was gone.

For the first time in a while, my sleep was dreamless. It was a blessing. I needed a pause, I needed time for my mind to actually process everything that had happened. As good as it was, it couldn’t last. Eventually I had to face reality again. I didn’t open my eyes initially. The stone ground felt so comfortable, and I childishly hoped that if they didn’t know I was awake, my parents wouldn’t make me get up. My return to consciousness also meant a return of the memories from yesterday. The questions and problems from yesterday worming their way back into my mind. 

At least now I had a chance to try and figure them out in the privacy of my mind. There were a few hard truths that I needed to admit to myself before I could say them to anyone else. It hurt physically to know that my family was truly dead, but some part of me felt more than a little excitement. There was nothing preventing me from moving on now. I could let go of them and spend the rest of my life without feeling guilty that I wasn’t doing whatever I could to find a way to bring them back. But what would I do now; that was a different question.

The immediate thing that came to mind was the Hatred, and my mission to destroy them. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do it; they had caused enough pain and needed to be stopped. What I was worried about was the repercussions of it, both for me and the shinies. My father had made clear what kind of a threat Smoke posed. I understood why he had to be stopped, but what I couldn’t quite figure out is  _ why _ I was going to eliminate him. Was it to stop him, or was it revenge?

And after that? The Dreamstone had showed me my heart of hearts. I wanted, more than anything, to return to the family I had built with Eve and Vix. But it wasn’t that simple. I’d ruined a perfectly good thing. I don’t think Eve would ever trust me again, or at least not in the same way as before. There would always be some part of her wondering if I would ever leave them again for my own reasons. And at the same time could I trust her like that? Could I trust her to watch my back whatever happens when she had proved that there were certain things she wasn’t willing to follow me into? I could go back, certainly, but would that place be home anymore?

Eve wasn’t even the only one I had to worry about either. If she left the Mist Continent last night, she would probably get home by tomorrow night. The others would certainly ask what had happened to me and I had no idea what she was going to tell them. I had no idea what Sierra and Abby would think, but Vix and Lucy would both be just devastated for different reasons. Vix especially. I’d promised her I’d come back. She made me promise I would. I’d even told her when...

My eyes shot open as the realization hit me, the words echoing in my head.  _ We’ll be back before sunset… _ It all suddenly came together. Vix’s nervous, almost panicked behavior when we had left, the oath she had extracted from me when I left. I cursed myself as I struggled my way to my feet. How could I have been so careless? I’d been so focused on the Dreamstone not only did I hurt Eve, but I also hurt Vix too. I could only imagine how anxious she had to be, waiting around for Eve and I to return with her mother’s words echoing in her head like that. I couldn’t imagine what would happen when Eve told her I wasn’t come back.

That settled that at least. I had to go back. If not for Eve, for Vix. Either way, there was no way I could try to repair any of this from a continent away. But before any of that I had to do the thing I’d been dreading the most. 

The three of them were pretty much exactly where I had left them the night before. They still sat in a loose circle around me. My sister had leaned back against the wall her eyes closed, my mother was idly tracing the patterns etched in the ground, and my father had his wand held in front of him, idly staring into the flame at the tip. Once I moved though, all three of them sat up, eyes locked on me. “Slink, what’s wrong?”

I looked around at the three of them, my heart sinking a little. “I have to go. I have to get back to my team.” Part of me hoped they wouldn’t press me on it. I couldn’t explain, and I felt like I didn’t have time to explain. 

My father didn’t even blink. “I guess there is just one thing left to do.” 

“Yeah,” I said, my heart rising in my throat. “How do I…?”

“Just step up to it and say ‘I accept this’. It will do the rest.”

My paws felt like they weighed a thousand pounds as I walked towards the stone. It didn’t look scary at all, but in that moment it seemed to loom over me. A weight that was about to drop onto my shoulders. As I walked, I reached up to my Everstone pendant. If I was going to do this, I wanted to spend just one moment without that restriction. As I made to lift it over my head my father took a step forward.

“Wait, I… I just wanted to remind you that you don’t have to do this. Don’t do this for me or because you think you have to. I want you to be sure before you take this step. Don’t do it if you will ultimately regret it.”

I nodded. “I have to do this. Who else will? I’ve come this far and I am going to see this through.” I tossed the Everstone aside with all of my strength, watching it shatter as it struck the stone wall. The final few steps seemed to be miles instead of just a few feet but eventually I was standing right under the Dreamstone. My voice trembled as the words passed my lips, but I made sure that my voice was clear. “I accept this.”

Like when it had summoned my family, the Dreamstone started to spin, faster and faster, growing brighter with each rotation.  A hum resonated from the stone, a deep rumble I could feel deep within my chest. As the sound grew in volume the ground started to vibrate as well, echoing the stone’s hum. I had closed my eyes against the light, so I felt rather than saw the Dreamstone move. It sank until it was level with my chest. It moved closer making every muscle in my body scream at me to move away. My claws dug into the delicate carvings beneath me as I clenched my paws, holding my ground. Warmth blossomed from the point where the Dreamstone touched me, the same invigorating feeling I got whenever the dream state was achieved. I could feel the deep hum buzzing through my bones. Slowly the feeling grew uncomfortable, then painful. Fire usually couldn’t hurt me, so I figured that this is what burning felt like. It was a searing pain, in my heart, in my lungs, my skin. 

And then it was over. All at once, the light, the pain, everything. The room had dimmed significantly now that the Dreamstone was gone; the only light entering from above was weak and gray instead of the warm golden light. I brought a paw up to my chest, investigating where I had felt the Dreamstone touch me. Nothing seemed wrong at first, except when I looked down I noticed that the white fur on my chest had gained a silvery sheen to it. It was still undeniably white, but now they had a prismatic sheen, like oil on water. There was more though. I felt an energy within me, from the tips of my ears to my toes. It tingled, like all of my cells were buzzing with power. 

“It worked.” I jumped at the voice. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I had thought that once I had claimed the Dreamstone my family would fade again. “Slink, I am so proud of you. I am proud of the kid I raised, and I am even more proud of the man you have become without me.”

The moment had finally come. The goodbye. As much as I wanted, as I needed, to go, my mind kept coming up with desperate excuses for me to stay. “I… I don’t know how to say goodbye. I already lost you once and I’m not sure I can do it again.”

“This isn’t goodbye,” Blaze scoffed, “you’ll have to bring the Dreamstone back eventually right? Once you are here again, just ask and we will come back. This is more of a see you later.”

My mother grinned at me. “And when you come back, I hope you bring Eve and Vix with you. I’d love to meet your team… and my grandaughter.”

I nodded, but then a thought occurred to me. The Dreamstone was gone, but the groove where the keys had been remained empty. “How will I get back into the village considering all of the keys…” I placed a paw on my chest, “are inside me, I guess.”

“The door will open for you. Don’t worry.” My father walked in front of me, and then fell to his knees. “Goodbye, my son. I am so proud of you. Go and fulfill your grandfather’s legacy. I know you can do it.” He leaned forward, throwing his arms around my neck. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine what it felt like. My mother came forward as well, but instead of just hugging me, she kneeled down in the same space as my father, completely overlapping him. My sister joined a moment later. With the three of them together those phantom sensations became real. It was like the wind brushing against me or a Joltic crawling along my arm. But this simple sensation almost brought me to tears.

That was a better goodbye than I could have ever hoped for. Without another word, without even looking at them, I stepped towards the doorway ready to go home. Once I was in the corridor I did sneak a single peek back. They were gone. The chamber was empty once again.


	21. Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are. Completely caught up with the FFN version of this story. Thank you for sticking with me throughout this process. 
> 
> My typical upload schedule is normally one chapter a month on the third Friday. If I have a chapter ready, that is the day I will publish. I hope you have enjoyed and I hope you stick around and see this story to it's end.

The sky was cloudy and gray as I left the temple that morning. It was like winter wasn’t ready to relinquish its grasp on the Mist Continent yet. The dour sky and sea seemed to bleach the color from the rest of the world as well. The vegetation was less green, the temple’s walls now a far more rusty red. A cool breeze wafted up from the ocean, and not even my inner Fire was enough to protect me from it. The charming, nostalgic atmosphere of the ruined village had turned melancholy. Like a graveyard.

The doors opened slowly as I approached them. The sun had only just peeked over the horizon, but just enough of its light poured into the Dungeon to clear the silver mist. The path was clear. 

I stepped through the doors, shivering as I passed into the Dungeon. Behind me the stone doors whispered closed, sealing themselves until, someday, I returned. Carefully I checked myself over, making sure I hadn’t accidentally left anything behind. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be back here for a while. Once I was certain that I had everything I raised my paw and pressed firmly on my badge.

Lime-green light enveloped me, the ground seeming to vanish beneath my feet. For a couple heartbeats I floated in a blinding void before my paws touched solid ground again and I was in a new place. 

This was the first time I’d used the Mist Continent’s teleport system, so when I landed I was unsure of where exactly I was. The Paradise apparently didn’t tuck their landing platform away in some basement. No, when I appeared it was in the middle of their busy atrium. 

The room was massive, alone more than twice the size of the entire Fire Continent HQ. The cavernous atrium of the building stretched nearly a hundred feet above. The ceiling was a stained-glass dome. Multicolored beams of light spilled from it, dotting the cobbled stone floor. Despite the early hour there were dozens of Pokemon wandering about, most of them wearing Paradise badges. The platform around me was active as well; in just one minute over a dozen Pokemon appeared around me in flashes of blue and green light.

“Get out of the way, kid,” someone barked. I jumped at the words and stumbled aside just in time. The second I moved, an Audino materialized where I had been standing. “You can’t idle. Things are too busy for that.” The voice was coming from the left head of a Zweilous standing behind a tall wooden desk. 

“Sorry,” I muttered shaking my head to reorient myself. “I uh…”

“You’re not with the Paradise are you?” the right head butted in.

“Er, no. The, uh, Expedition Society.” I shook my head again. I couldn’t get distracted. I focused on the door directly across the room from me. I bumped several Pokemon on my way through, their angry protests following behind me. My footsteps quickened,  to a trot, to a jog, to a full on sprint. And then I just kept running.

* * *

The Lapras dock just outside of Noe town wasn’t terribly busy when I arrived. There were a few travelers clambering on and off of all sorts of water Pokemon, a few Hariyama were unloading cargo from a particularly overburdened Carracosta. 

I glanced around the wharf. There were forty stone slips built into the harbor, but only ten were occupied at that moment, and of the Water Pokemon there, most were already talking to prospective passengers. My nervous energy kept me moving, hopping from foot to foot. I could see several small splotches on the horizon. Another wave of passengers would be arriving soon, but I didn’t want to wait that long. Eve had a twelve hour head start on me at the very least, and while I couldn’t hope to catch up to her, I needed to get back as soon as possible.

Then I saw him. A lone Lapras sitting in the farthest slip to my left. He was bobbing softly by his dock, head tucked to his chest and eyes closed. I hesitated for a moment, unsure if I should disturb him. Still, I approached. As I got closer, his head perked up. He blinked a couple times before locking eyes with me, nodding politely. “Hello Sir,” he called out, “looking for a ride?”

“Are you alright to go?” I asked sheepishly. “You seem...tired.”

“Huh?” He cocked his head before realizing what I had been referring to. “Yeah man, it’s just been a slow morning. Might as well take a nap to pass the time, right.” He shifted forward and backward in his dock as though he was teeming with energy he was trying to burn off. His flippers slipped idly through the water, even the slightest movements pushing his body quickly and efficiently. “I haven’t been on a long trip in a while. Where you headed?”

“Fire Continent,” I answered, “Festive Town dock.”

“Sure,” he nodded. “That’ll be a two day trip. No problem.” He glanced down at my chest, to my Society badge. “I’m assuming we’d have permission to land at the Society’s dock?”

“Of course,” I nodded. I hesitated a moment, debating weather to ask the question I was thinking. “You said the trip would take two days. It wouldn’t be possible to get there any faster would it?”

“‘Fraid not,” the Lapras cocked his head. “What’s the rush?”

That had seemed a little rude, I realized with a grimace. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. My friend left the Continent last night. I was hoping that we might be able to catch up to her.”

“Sorry friend. Two days is as fast as I can go. Shall we be off then? I may not be able to get you there sooner, but the faster we leave the sooner we can reach the Fire Continent.” 

“Thought I might as well ask.” I took a quick moment before climbing onto his shell to check my bag to make sure I had enough food and water for two days at sea. Once I was sure everything was in order the Lapras turned to the side, leaning so that his shell was tilted towards me. I prepared myself to leap onto his back. I’d done it several times in the last two years. Hell, I’d made a jump this small thousands of times in my life. For some reason though this time it felt like the gap was ten times larger. Fear washed over me, my half bent legs trembling. What if I fell in?    
  
No. I couldn’t hesitate. I couldn’t waste time. I needed to get back. I levitated myself slightly, drifting carefully over to the Lapras. I clenched my paws as soon as I touched the hard shell, claws scraping uselessly against the waxy surface. The hard material was sleek, so I released my weight slowly, making sure I was secure. I never trusted my footing when on a Lapras shell anyway, but now I was twice as nervous.

The Lapras twisted again, returning his shell to level. I walked towards the center of the shell, barely lifting my feet. Once there I wrapped a foreleg around one of the numerous spikes. The Lapras turned in the slip until we were facing the open sea. He craned his neck back, until one of his big black eyes could regard me. “You okay back there?” He asked.

I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I simply nodded instead. He grinned, a mischievous gleam flashing in his eyes before he turned to face the open ocean again. “You may want to hang on tight for this part, though.”

A moment later he took off, accelerating from a standstill to full speed in only a few seconds. Despite this, I had little trouble holding on. I wasn’t about to let go, though. Not yet. I watched behind us as the Mist Continent slowly sank below the horizon until only the mountain peaks peeked above the waves. For the next two days it seemed, it would just be the open ocean as far as either of us could see.

I spent hours clinging to that spike. Several times I tried to let go. This was ridiculous, I thought to myself. But no matter what my mind argued, my paws refused to release. Eventually my hind-legs and tail were all asleep, cramping painfully from the awkward position I was in. Still I couldn’t make myself move. 

The Lapras craned his neck back several times to check on me, each time seeming more worried to find me in the same spot. Eventually he spoke. “Ya know kid, I keep having to make sure you are still back there. I haven’t felt you move since you got on. First time?”

I shook my head, but then, realizing he couldn’t see me, I called out. “No, not at all. I...I don’t know why I’m... why I can’t…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it man. Happens to the best of us. I ran into a storm a few months ago. I’ve been through dozens in my time just like it. Something about it just made me nervous. Now anytime I see one, even if it is a small one, I make sure to go in the other direction.” The Lapras swam silently for a while after that. “Say friend, you mentioned that you’ve traveled with my kind before. But have you ever traveled alone?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but then I paused. He was right. Every other time I had traveled, I was with Eve. “I-I think you’re right.” I said softly.

“Oh, alright then,” the Lapras said thoughtfully. “Are you worried about falling off then?”

I gulped. I couldn’t help but glance at the churning water that lapped at the edges of the shell. Like most Fire Types, I wasn’t the strongest swimmer. If the cold shock itself didn’t kill me, I’d probably drown soon after as the water drained my strength. Somewhere in the back of my mind though I knew that if I did fall in, the Lapras could rescue me within seconds. Still, some instinctual part of me doubted. “A little.”

The Lapras nodded, and then he slowed his pace, almost coming to a standstill. He craned his neck, turning around to face me as much as he could. “Don’t worry about it, kid. I’ve been doing this for three years now, and not one passenger has fallen off of my back. You’re in good flippers as it were. I don’t know if you know this, but our shells are rather sensitive. I can feel every footstep you take. If you were about to fall off, I’d know and could tilt my back to catch you. Even if you somehow do fall off, I can stop and turn rather quickly. I know we’ve just met and all, but you can trust me.” He turned back so that he was facing the right direction. He began swimming once again, but the pace was slower. “I know you are in a hurry, but I think we should take things slower until you are comfortable. Just let me know when you are ready and I will speed up again.”

The slower pace was somewhat reassuring. Even the irrational side of my brain that had stubbornly clung to the spine seemed convinced that I was less likely to be tossed into the sea at least. I unclenched my paws and stood up fully. It was painful bliss as needles filled my legs and tail as blood flow was returned to them. I paced stiff legged around the spine for a while until eventually I could feel my paws again. While I had physically let go of the spike though, I still kept a Psychic tether attached to it and I didn’t wander far from the center of the shell. 

I paced like that for a good hour, the sun having fully set before I finally settled down. I curled up between two of the spines. It was a little uncomfortable, but I felt safer now that I was wedged in. 

“Ah,” the Lapras said after I had laid down, “good you’ve settled then. May I start up once again?”

“I think so,” I answered, my voice still a little unsteady. 

“Alright then, here we go.” He put on a burst of speed, my muscles clenching I slid away from my anchor. It lasted for just one horrible second before we were finished accelerating and I settled down once again. “‘Bout time you relaxed,” the Lapras chuckled once we were sailing smoothly again. “With all that pacing I thought you were going to wear a hole in my back. We did lose an hour back there, but at least you are more comfortable, yes?”

“Thank you,” I told him. “Although I hope you won’t take offense if I say I’m not comfortable enough to sleep on your back quite yet.”

“No worries,” the Lapras said. “I can assure you you’d be safe, but I understand. Take your time. Just let me know if you want to talk or somethin’.”

I appreciated the offer, but the silence of the world gave me a perfect opportunity to simply lay down and think. The whole day, when I could control how fast I was moving, my only thought was of getting myself to the Fire Continent as soon as possible. Now that I had a chance to think, I couldn’t help but wonder what I was going to do. I had to go find Vix as soon as I possibly could, I knew that. Unfortunately there was no way to reach her without having to face Eve as well. We had to talk, but what would I even say? 

I could barely organize into thoughts what I was feeling and thinking. How was I ever supposed to put it into words? Obviously I was angry and upset, but that seemed far too simple.The actual words nowhere near enough to actually describe my thoughts and feelings. 

I sighed, resting my head back against the smooth spike behind me. The skies were impeccably clear that night. I could see every star, trace every constellation. A flare of light revealed a shooting star overhead, and out of habit I turned to see if anyone else had seen it. I grimaced at my own reaction. Already, after only a day, I missed Eve. I missed Vix. I missed them all. I hadn’t been alone, truly alone, since I had met Eve. Even at my lowest point, when I had been taken by the Hatred, I still had Vix. For the past year and a half, I’d always had an anchor. Someone to keep me grounded. There was no doubt in my mind that I couldn’t go back to having nothing. I couldn’t just stay away like Eve had told me to.

I shifted again on the Lapras, balancing on my back, much better to relax and watch the stars. My mind felt clearer, certainly, but I didn’t feel any better. Each realization had helped open a hollow, nasty feeling in my stomach. I don’t know how long I tossed and turned that night, my thoughts raging. Eventually though the rhythmic movements of the Lapras and the regular rush of the surf lulled me into a fitful sleep.

* * *

I slept through the rest of the night and through most of the next day. It was late afternoon by the time I finally woke up. It had been a long two days and I didn’t think the next two were going to be any easier. I felt so drained, both mentally and physically. Yet, I had to keep going. Best to get all of the rest I could, especially since I had no idea what the next days would bring. 

I forced myself to take the time to eat and drink. Now that I had slept, my body was complaining quite loudly at how little I had given it the past couple of days. Thankfully my bag was nicely stocked with berries, bread, and other rations, all carefully packed by Eve. My canteen was only about half full, but I usually didn’t need much water. It would be enough to get me to land. That was all that mattered.

It was just past noon on our second day when the Fire Continent finally came into sight, the Scale Mountain range creeping above the horizon. The Lapras assured me that it would take an hour at least before we would reach the dock, but I was hardly paying attention. My goal was in reach. I silently willed the Lapras to swim faster.

When we landed, I almost forgot to pay him. I leapt from his shell, my desperation making me forget my fear momentarily. I was running as soon as my paws touched the dock. It took three calls from the Lapras to catch my attention, but I sheepishly returned and paid him his fee, almost all of the cash I had on hand. Once we were settled though, I didn’t even look back, sprinting desperately towards town. 

My bag slapped my side with every bound up the narrow path from the harbor to Festive Town. The market was busy as I blazed through the streets. More than a few Pokemon were keen enough to dance aside as I rushed through, but most I had to dance around, ducking and weaving around them. More then a few times I bumped into Pokemon, their curses falling on deaf ears as I kept moving. I couldn’t stop. Not now. Not when I was so close.

Nearer to Society HQ though, the crowds got denser. Even I couldn’t shoulder my way through this crowd, although I did my best. I bided my time as I carefully weaved my way through the throng. I couldn’t be too reckless here considering anyone I pissed off would have ample opportunity to show their displeasure. The crowd was too thick though for me to avoid everyone, though. A particularly grumpy Lurantis shoved me aside after I accidentally bumped her, sending me stumbling into a group of smaller Pokemon. I stumbled away, muttering half-hearted apologies under my breath. 

Just past HQ I managed to break free of the crowds. The main street wasn’t deserted by any means, but it was clear enough that I could resume my desperate sprint. It was a thirty minute walk from here to the house. I covered that distance in just under fifteen. Soon enough I could see the wrought-iron fence that surrounded our property. Then there was the great gate, topped with a steel ornament of our team symbol. I stopped running at this point, breathing hard and nursing a stitch at my side. The house seemed to loom above me in the afternoon sunlight. Now that I was here, for the first time since I had left the temple it struck me how...final this was. Suddenly this had become real; this was my chance. This was no longer hypothetical. However this turned out, that would be that.

I felt so self-conscious walking up to the door. There was probably nobody watching me, yet I felt a prockle between my shoulder blades like somebody’s eyes were on me. I stared up at the dark windows that glared down at the path. One of them was in Vix’s room.. Was she watching me as I walked up the path? For some reason I didn’t want anyone to see me until they opened the front door, for better or worse.

The door was unlocked; we usually left it that way during the day. I didn’t go in, though. That didn’t feel right. I didn’t know how welcome I would be inside. It felt like breaking and entering, even if it was my own house. Instead I sat on the front step, knocking firmly on the door. I’d find Vix before I went to Eve, I thought to myself. I just hoped that the latter wouldn’t be the one to answer the door. I wasn’t ready for that conversation quite yet. My heart pounded in my throat, the apprehension making my mouth feel dry. I heard hurried footsteps on the other side of the door, then the latch turned. Time seemed to slow, my pounding heartbeat marking out the seconds for me. The door slowly swung open, revealing Vix in the entryway.

We met eyes, hers widening. For a few moments we were both frozen until I eventually found my voice. “Vix, I…I…” I couldn’t find the words. How on Earth could I ever explain it all to her? How could I tell her that I had never intended to leave her like I had, how my last words had been an unfortunate slip of the tongue, how she was one of the most important Pokemon in my life, who I loved more than most anyone else? How could I describe how much she had changed my life, how proud I was of her every single day? How could I get through to her, when she had to be so unbelievably angry with me that-

She flung herself at me, her scream of “Dad,” still hanging in the air. She was clutching me tightly, with her paws, her legs, and her tails grabbing onto whatever part of me they could reach like I would fade into smoke at any second. Without even thinking about it, I pulled her even closer wrapping my own forelegs around her, tucking her head into the crook of my neck, and curling my tail around us both. 

I sat there, holding her to me. How could I have ever believed that I could simply leave? The young girl clinging to me like her life depended on it was proof that I could not. I felt a strange tickling sensation on my snout, and it took me a minute to realize that it was tears streaming down my muzzle. Then I noticed a similar sensation against my chest. I gave Vix a squeeze, before ducking my face down and nuzzling her cheeks. “Shhh, its alright.”

Vix shook her head against my chest. “You idiot,” she whimpered, her voice muffled somewhat through my fur. “Eve told me that you weren’t coming back. She...she still thinks you are gone for good.” My heart lurched within my chest at those words, but Vix wasn’t done. “I… I didn’t want to believe her. I didn’t want to think that after everything, you had left me too.” She paused, and I felt a fresh wave of tears drip into my fur. 

I hummed to her softly, nuzzling against her cheek, simply affirming to her that I was still there. “It’s okay,” I whispered, “it’s alright. I am here now. That’s what matters.” I shifted back a bit, just enough that I could see her brown eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I promise you Vix, I will never leave you. You never have to be afraid of losing me.”. I put my chin back on her head, thinking. “What did Eve tell you guys?”

Vix shifted, finally looking up at me. Her brown eyes shone as she gazed at me. “She got home really late last night. I, uh…” she blushed nervously, “I wasn’t in bed. You had  _ promised  _ you’d be home long before then, so I was waiting up on you.” I couldn’t miss the subtle accusation in her words. There was a subtle anger radiating from her. “Eve was loud when she came in. I must have fallen asleep, but I couldn’t miss when she slammed the door behind her. None of us could. Sierra, Abby, and Lucy came out of their rooms too. We all noticed immediately that you were gone. I was worried, but Sierra was completely panicking. He kept asking Eve where you where and what had happened.” Vix scowled. “Eve didn’t want to talk. She didn’t look good when she came in. If we hadn’t found her I think she would have gone up to er... your room without telling us anything. She didn’t say much. Just that you had found what you are looking for, but that you had chosen to stay behind.” She paused looking up at me, her eyes pleading. “She said that you had both decided that it would be best for you to stay away.”

I grimaced, but I didn’t want to lie to Vix. “She isn’t wrong, although she did leave before I could entirely agree. But I wised up quick enough. Sorry it took so long, though.”

Vix nodded. “After that she went upstairs. Sierra tried to ask her more questions, but she just ignored him and left. She closed the door and she hasn’t come out since. The others, they didn’t take it well either. Lucy went back to her room, grabbed her blankets, and left.” Vix glanced over to where the Riolu was sitting among the trees. “She’s been out there all day. Abby tried to go back to bed, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t go back to sleep. Sierra didn’t really seem to know what to do. He stood in the hallway for the longest time before retreating to his room. I heard him pacing in there all night.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “And what did you do?” 

Vix’s face flushed, showing even through her fur. She nodded to the small bench we had in the entryway, right at the base of the stairs. “I climbed onto that, and I didn’t move until you knocked on the door. I…I knew you would come back. You promised you would. The others may have given up, but I was going to wait for you. Sierra got me food, even when I wasn't hungry, and he made sure I drank some water.” She sighed. “He seemed to be okay. He just wandered the house, checking up on everyone.”

I didn’t say anything, but I made a mental note to thank Sierra later. That was who he was. He kept the others going, taking care of them when they were too distracted to do it themselves. Out loud I said, “Well, hopefully he is at least a little happy to see me.” I nuzzled her cheek again, and she purred softly.

“You said that Eve is still in her room,” I eventually said, pulling back. I glanced upwards nervously, as though I could see Eve. I was afraid to reach out with my mind, not really wanting her to know I was here quite yet. “I guess there really isn’t much use waiting.” I grimaced at the Vulpix. “I guess I’ll go see if she’ll talk to me. We need to figure something out.”

Vix looked like she wanted to say something, but she stopped and shut her mouth. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Why not go tell Sierra and Abby what happened.” She still looked pained as I stepped away. “It will be fine, Vix. I promise.”

I took a deep breath before marching inside. My mind tuned out everything else, my vision narrowing as I focused in on the door to the room where I knew Eve was hiding. My body moved mechanically, as though I were no longer in control. Up the stairs, through the small loft on the landing, and into the hall. It felt like a small flame was burning in my stomach, warmth spreading through my chest. It took me a second, but I realized it was the Dreamstone. It was a reassuring sensation.

Finally, I was standing before the door. It was shut firmly, and it radiated a sense of seclusion. Even without Psychic, I could feel Eve’s desire to not be disturbed radiating from the room. Thankfully the door was unlocked. What would I have done if it hadn't been? There was something truly uncomfortable about the idea of Psychically picking the lock. Still, I tried to be silent as I eased the door open and slipped into the room. 

The curtains were open, afternoon sunlight pouring in. Eve was laying on the bed, her back to the door. She had a blanket pulled over her, only her head and the tips of her tail sticking out from under it. I could hear her deep, even breathing from the door. Was she asleep? 

I took a step, although I had no idea what to do. It wasn’t like I could wake her up, but I also couldn’t stand there and watch her sleep. She was already mad at me, and neither option was likely to endear me to her further. Before I could figure anything out, my paw met something hard. I nearly lost my feet as it slipped from under my paw, skittering across the floor, before slamming into the chest at the foot of the bed with hollow thunk. 

I glanced down and noticed, for the first time, that Eve’s bag had been discarded by the door. She must have thrown it off, as its contents were strewn across the floor. Berries of all shapes and colors dotted the carpet. Eve’s coin purse was sticking halfway out from under the bed. Discs, like the one I had just kicked, glittered around the mouth of the open bag. Looking around a little more, I saw that she had similarly discarded her blue scarf, the one I had gotten for her nearly a month ago. It was lying on the floor, still knotted like she had simply pulled it over her head. 

“Sierra? Is that you?” I jumped at the voice. The thunk of the badge striking the trunk had woken her. She hadn’t turned her head, she hadn’t moved at all. “I told you already. I’m not hungry. If I’m thirsty enough I know where to get water. For right now, I just want to be alone. Is that too much to ask.”

I didn’t say anything, knowing my voice would give me away. My mind was working quickly, trying to think of how to begin this discussion. After a few moments of silence, Eve continued on. “I don’t want to talk about it either. I...I…” she choked on the words, a poorly disguised sob. “Just go.” She said eventually.

I took a deep breath, licking my lips. “Eve”—I saw her flinch the instant the words left my mouth—“it’s me.”

Shoulders hunched, she turned slowly to face me. I forced myself to stand up straight, keeping my expression as neutral as possible. It was hard to qualify her expression as it seemed to be a huge mix of emotion. Anger, sadness, relief, fear, happiness. Her gem flickered and I could feel her emotions leaking from her mind. She blinked hard a few times seemingly trying to determine if I was merely a figure of her imagination. I felt a curious Psychic tendril poke my shoulder, then recoil when it realized I was there. 

“What are you doing here?” she whispered. Her voice trembled, though whether from anger or happiness, it wasn’t clear. In fact I don’t even think that she knew. I only caught tastes of her Psychic. Her feelings were just as tangled and confused as mine had been. “Shouldn’t you be back there, with your family?” Her voice bubbled with pain and sadness, but there was something more in there, something I couldn’t place.

I finally dropped my gaze, hanging my head. “No. I shouldn’t be there. Even if I truly wanted to, there is nothing for me there anymore.”

For a moment, Eve’s angry expression faltered, replaced with naked confusion and more than a little concern. Just as quickly, though, the anger was back. Her voice shook as she spoke. “Nothing left? You did find the Dreamstone right? What about your family?”

“I did. But… I was wrong.” I sighed. I looked back up, meeting her eyes almost defiantly. “That isn’t what the Dreamstone is for. Honestly, it was just wishful thinking that led me to believe it ever was.” Finally, I let my facade fall. My legs trembled and I barely kept myself upright as the true weight of my pain crashed down onto me. My shoulders rolled forward and I let go of the tears I had been holding onto. “They aren’t coming back.”

“Slink, I-” her voice faltered. Whatever she was feeling towards me in that moment was set aside. “I’m so sorry Slink. That’s just...I know how much you wanted this to work out. I know how much they meant to you. I’m sorry, I really am.” 

I nodded, but I refused to look away from her. “I’m fine. I...I know they aren’t really gone.” I sighed. "Either way, I don’t have a family to go back to anymore.”

Eve’s brows furrowed. “So I guess you are settling for us huh. That isn’t fair to any of us. You should be here because you want to. Not because you have nowhere else to go.”

“That isn’t it at all. I never wanted to leave in the first place! You guys were my family. Eve, Xen still lives on the Mist Continent, Phoenix lives on the Water Continent. Do you really think I would be here if I didn’t still care about you?”

“I know you care. That is the problem, Slink. You cared about me, and I cared about you more than anything. And when you left…” her voice cracked, and she trailed off. “Slink, I trusted you. I trusted you with everything. And now..."

We were both silent. “Back there I asked you if there was anything we could do. Something that could keep us together.” I reached into my bag, the token I had made for her coming easily to my paw. “I thought that we could figure things out. We could have gone anywhere. I had an answer, but then you tore it down. You told me it wouldn’t work.” I pulled the token from the bag, holding it up so that Eve could clearly see it.

Her eyes locked on it, widening as realization washed over her. “Is...is that..?”

“This is yours Eve. The stone is yours, and I had the rest made for you. I thought this would be enough to fix us, to keep us all together. And you told me that it wasn’t enough.”

Eve flinched. “Slink, if you had just told me I-”

“Would you have?” I asked. It wasn’t accusing, at least as much as I could manage. “I asked you if anything could fix things. Anything. And this didn’t seem to be an option then.” I looked at the token one last time before tossing it up onto the bed next to Eve. “Like I said, it is yours. I think you should hold onto it until...we figure things out.”

“What do you mean figure things out?” Eve asked. She stared at the badge, but didn’t move to touch it.

“I mean...I think we both need some space for a while. I’m going to go. I’ll see if Gloom won’t let me rent a place for a few weeks. I...I need to figure things out. And I know you do too. I don’t think we can do that if we are constantly bumping into each other here.”

The Espeon seemed at a loss for words. “Slink, you don’t...we don’t…”

“Do you have a better idea, Eve? I don’t want to argue with you, but I honestly think this is best.” I hunched my shoulders, turning my back and heading to the door. I glanced back over my shoulder before I left. “Also, if she wants, I’m taking Vix with me.”

“Wait, hold on!” Eve called, hopping to the floor and chasing after me. “You can’t just take Vix.”

“It will be her choice,” I replied without looking back. “I promised I wouldn’t leave her again.” I left the room. I didn’t look back.   
  
I found Vix exactly where I had left her. She was crouching at the base of the stairs, ears pressed to her skull and tails tucked between her legs. “What...what did you...is everything okay?”

“Yes,” I said rushing to the girl. I pressed my nose to her forehead. “Things are fine. It’s just...things are going to be different for a little while.” 

“Different how? Slink, what is going on?” 

“Vix, I’ll explain everything to you. I promise. But first... do you want to come with me?”

“Where are we going?” Vix said. Most of the worry had left her voice, but she sill fidgeted. Still, I was reassured by her use of “we”. 

“I...I have to leave for a while. Eve and I need some time...and some space apart. It won’t be far,” I said hurriedly as Vix flinched at the idea. “We’d just be back in town. You don’t have to Vix, but...I don’t want to leave you again, even if it isn’t really leaving.

Vix didn’t say a word. She closed her eyes, and gritted her teeth.

“We won’t be far,” I assured her nervously. “You’d still be able to come see the others every day if you wanted to. It would just be a matter of how often you’d see me.” I wanted to say more, but I shut my mouth. This wasn’t about me. This is about what she wanted.

Finally, she nodded. “I’m with you Slink. I always was.”

I nuzzled her happily. Inside, my heart soared. When I’d told Eve that I was going to take her with me, I hadn’t honestly been sure. I nearly started crying again. At least I wouldn’t be alone, whatever came next. 


	22. With and Without

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, and welcome to the first new chapter posted here. Sorry it's been a long wait. 
> 
> Before we get to the actual chapter I've got a couple of things to note. First, thanks once again to deerest_love for once again proof-reading for me. This wouldn't be nearly as good without your help. Second, to Team_Ion_Pokemon for helping me come up with this chapter's concept. And finally, drawing in this chapter by Domingize. Thank you so much. 
> 
> Now, on with the show. Happy reading.

* * *

* * *

I stared at the blank sheet of paper spread across the table. A pen was poised in my mental grip, hovering over the page. Three separate times I pressed pen to paper, and three different times I lifted it without even leaving a mark. The floor around me was littered with a dozen crumpled pages. Some were completely covered in inky scribbles, while others only bore a handful of words. 

Gritting my teeth, I lowered the nib of the pen to the page and carefully wrote out:

 **_Dear Father,_ ** _  
_ _  
_ But that was as far as I got. As far as I always got. My mind was stuffed with clamoring thoughts all screaming for my attention leaving me paralyzed and confused. I rolled my neck. My gaze fell upon the neatly folded square of paper that was poking from my bag. Without even thinking about it I grabbed the page before levitating it onto the desk.

I settled it atop my barely-started letter, my paw coming up and tracing the worn creases. I’d read and reread it so much that I knew it by heart. Still I opened it up again, smoothing it flat. Why are you doing this? I asked myself bitterly. It’s not like this will make you feel any better. I glared down at the green-tinted paper, complete with small leaf-like motifs along the margins. The black ink still glistened, the characters meticulously traced out by a steady claw. It read: 

**My Dearest Daughter,**

**I hope this letter finds you well. It’s been so long since we’ve last talked. I wanted to reach out to you, especially after nearly two years of absence.**

**Samantha informed us of what you’ve been getting up to, and of course the exploits of Team Mindfire are known across the continent. Your mother and I were hesitant to say the least when we found out you were planning to join the Expedition Society. Not that I don't appreciate their work, but I didn't think that it was something you would aspire to. I do admit that you seem to have taken to it. I didn't expect that you would accomplish so much in such a short amount of time. Your participation in the raid on the Hatred base was particularly impressive, and will be a credit to our family's name.**

**However, I wonder how much there is left for you to do, at least in Festive Town. I'll tell you this plainly: it is time for you to come home. You've been gone for near a year and a half. I know why you felt that you needed to leave—**

I couldn’t help but scoff at that _lie_. I was certain he knew nothing about why I had actually left. 

**—but it is time for you to return. There is a satellite branch of the Expedition Society here that you could transfer to if you wish to keep working for them. Your friends and family miss you, and we wish you would come home.**

**I** **know that transferring might mean leaving your team behind. Samantha told us how closely knit you are. I’m sure it will be tough for you to leave them behind; however, this could be for the best. I admire that you have taken in these people especially given that — as I understand it — they have all been through recent strife. Samantha told me specifically about Slink and Vix. While I’m sure you helped them a lot through turbulent times, I know it is important to keep in touch with us as well. Your current situation won’t last forever. But no matter where Slink and Vix end up after it ends, we’ll still be there for you.**

**I know this is a lot, so take all the time you need to respond. We need you here with us, and we hope that you will be home where you belong soon.**

**I love you,**

**Father**

I stared at the page for another minute, feeling something simmering deep in my gut.

I snarled, tossing the letter aside and snatching up my feeble attempt at a reply. I crumpled it up and hurled it at the door. It bounced off with a pathetic little _paf_ before landing on the floor with the others. I sank down until my head was pressed against the desk.

The letter had arrived while the three of us were at work today. Alone it was enough to ruin the day, but it was made all the worse by the fact that we wer missing half our team. Slink, Vix, and even Lucy had left the house yesterday, left before I could catch up to them. All that they’d left behind was a scratchy note telling me that they were headed to Gloom’s apartments. 

On one paw, I was glad that they had left so soon. Otherwise, I might have made a rash decision. Still, they hadn’t even said goodbye, and even Slink’s last words to me were...strained.

This was all so horrible and confusing. Everything had been so tangled up and difficult before this letter. Any other time I’d have gone straight to Slink to share the letter with him. His reaction to Sam’s letter...it had made it easy to figure things out. Now, though, I had no idea what to do.

* * *

* * *

The table was barely large enough for the six of us to sit around it on a good day. Normally, this didn’t matter so much. After the relatively tiny apartment, we were used to being crowded in together. But that night the closeness seemed oppressive.

Vix and Abby were sitting, together of course, at one end of the table. Lucy had squeezed in on Vix’s other side with Sierra claiming his usual spot next to his daughter. Nobody had thought about it; these were the usual places we took when the six of us gathered to eat. The problem with this, though, was very apparent to Eve and I. The usual spots would put us right next to each other, really close, all night.

I’ll admit, this wasn’t how I expected things to go when Sierra invited us to dinner that day. It had only been a couple of nights since Vix, Lucy, and I had left, just enough time for us to get settled in and for things to return to some imitation of normalcy. The invitation had taken me completely off-guard, and I was really hesitant to go back to visit since we were supposed to be getting some time apart.

Sierra came through with something that was hard to refute. “But what about Vix?” Just because I didn’t want to be around Eve, didn’t mean that the Vulpix didn’t miss her or Abby. This was hard on her, so whatever I could do to help I needed to. 

That’s what landed me here, pressed in uncomfortably close between Lucy and Eve. In awkward silence. All night.

Sierra was the first to notice that the two of us had been put together and that neither of us were happy with it. He subtly offered to trade places with me several times over the course of the meal, but I politely declined. It would have probably just made things more uncomfortable. Besides, the other four were having a grand time on the other end of the table and I didn’t want to put them into the middle of Eve’s and my problems. 

That isn’t to say the whole night was dreadful. Despite it only having been three days, the girls acted like they hadn’t seen each other in months, laughing and joking together. Sierra joined in the fun whenever he could get a word in. 

It’s not like Eve and I didn’t join in either. Vix had clearly missed Eve, at one point in the meal regaling her with a minute-by-minute description of our day. Sierra also pulled me into the conversation. Asking about the trip to the Mist continent along with the new apartment. But whenever Eve and I spoke together, that’s when things went wrong.

We spent a lot of time discussing the good parts of our trip to the Mist Continent. Specifically the others were fascinated by our visit to Xen and Ash. It was such a fun friendly conversation until at one point Eve and I both tried to answer the same question. Where once we had been able to finish each other's sentences, this attempt at speech ended in us both stumbling into silence. 

It wasn’t even that there was any hostility or that we couldn’t stand being next to one another. It was the strained silence that stretched between us the whole meal. We were both perfectly polite, each of us asking the other to do things like pass the salt or a napkin several times during the meal. The entire time though it felt like I was sitting next to a complete stranger.. 

After the meal, the girls excused themselves, disappearing into the house to play a game together, leaving just Sierra, Eve, and me at the table. Sierra's gaze darted expectantly between the two of us. Neither of us really had anything to say, especially as we took the opportunity to scoot over a little so that we weren’t practically sitting in the same chair. 

“Look,” the Absol eventually said, “we need to talk about this whole living arrangement you two decided on. I told you that I wouldn’t judge either of you for what happened, but until you two figure it out, you are not going to punish the rest of us. We are going to keep having these dinners, at least twice a week, so that we all get to see each other. We’re still technically one team. Might as well act like it.”

I glanced over at Eve as I nodded. “That sounds like a great idea to me.”

“I agree,” she said, nodding in return.

We tried to let the kids spend as much time together as possible, but eventually we had to go. The goodbyes were hard. Vix spent nearly five minutes pressed against Abby in an embrace, and nearly twice that with Eve. She deliberately turned away from me as she embraced Vix, but even with her back turned, I could see her ears droop. When Vix eventually broke away, she perked up, forcing a smile.

As we began the walk home, I turned to Vix. “So...uh…” I swallowed and tried again. “You -- uh -- you know, if you wanted to stay the night, either tonight or some other night...you wouldn’t offend me. Hell, if you want to go back to living there for a while, I wouldn’t mind that either. You don’t have to stay with me if you don’t want to.

The Vulpix briefly glanced back at the house before bumping her shoulder into mine. “Some other night maybe. I’m okay, Slink. I don’t like being away from them, but I want to be with you. That’s my choice!” She gasped, as if she had just had some huge revelation. “Slink, do you think we can stop for dessert on the way home?”

* * *

* * *

“Eve, are you okay?” 

I opened my eyes that I hadn’t even realized were closed. My head was slumped against a pillow, a small blanket draped over me that I didn’t remember putting there.

“Eve, are you alright.” I felt a paw on my shoulder.

I blinked a couple times, struggling to piece his words together. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just…uh...just…”

“Having a nice nap?” Sierra’s smirking face appeared, sitting in the chair across from me.

“I wasn’t sleeping,” I muttered indignantly. “I was just...resting my eyes.”

“Oh,” Sierra said, doing a terrible job at containing a grin. “Do you normally snore when you do that? And jeez, you’ve been doing it for over an hour.”

“Shut u-” I tried to growl, but was cut off as an enormous yawn forced itself out of me. 

Sierra’s grin faltered. “Really Eve, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, pushing myself upright, stretching my back. “Why do you ask?

The Absol raised an eyebrow at me. “You don’t normally fall asleep at ten in the morning. Please Eve, talk to me. I’m worried about you. Are you sleeping well?” He paused, a single tooth poking out from his mouth as he bit his lip. “I haven’t seen you this way since...since the last time we were alone.”

I knew exactly what he meant but wasn’t saying. “The last time we were alone”, when Slink and Vix had been taken. For those few weeks I had barely slept, more concerned with planning than anything else. I could see why Sierra was so worried, and even more why he was hesitant to say anything. But that wasn’t it. That wasn’t it at all.

He was right that I had barely slept in the last week. Sierra couldn’t have known what was keeping me up every night. Each day I had covertly destroyed the evidence before anyone else could find out, like I was hiding some shameful secret. The dozens, the hundreds of pages I had scribbled a few words on before crumpling up seemed to weigh on me. That damned green piece of paper haunted my dreams as well as my waking moments.

And still, after all of that, I was no closer to a response. “Look, I know what the problem is, but it isn’t that. I have things...I have them under control.” 

“Yeah, sure seems like it.” Sierra regarded me, red eyes scanning my face. “I know I’m not your usual confidant, but you can talk to me. Maybe it will help.” 

What could it hurt? My bag was sitting at the end of the couch. I pulled out the green piece of paper immediately. I could never seem to let go of it. I carefully unfolded the paper, floating it over to Sierra who took it gently in his paws. He bent over and started to read. 

I waited, my heart beating in my throat as he read it. Several times he glanced up at me, looking like he wanted to comment or ask a question, but I always just pointed him back to the letter. I needed him to finish it before I lost my nerve. 

Finally he was done. He looked up at me and sighed. “Wow, your dad is a dick.”

His language caught me off guard; I giggled despite myself. “Gee, thanks.”

“Eve...I don’t even know what to say about that. Jeez, I thought Sam didn’t know anything about your life. I’m so sorry you’ve had to deal with that.”

“I just...what do I do? How do I respond to something like that?”

Sierra huffed. Now that the initial shock had passed, he seemed genuinely angry. “I don’t see why you have to answer at all. You shouldn’t even dignify this with a response.”

“I can’t just not answer, Sierra. As much of a weight from my mind it would be to just ignore this letter I can’t. I don’t want to break things off...not yet.”

“And why not?!” Sierra huffed. “He clearly doesn’t respect you as an adult or any of your choices. You shouldn’t give him the time of day.”

“But what if I did?” I argued. “I haven’t talked to them in years, and they still sent me this letter. No matter what happens, they aren’t going to stop trying. I already told them that I’d discuss things with them at the end of summer! Something has to happen. We either need to figure things out, or we need to break things off. I can’t keep doing this.”

“Well then, I’d give him that ultimatum. Give him a piece of your mind and tell him that he can either respect your choices, or you are gone!”

I stayed silent for a moment. I was scared to give him that option. He was still my father. I didn’t want him fully out of my life. I didn’t want to burn that bridge, especially when my mother and siblings were still on the other side. 

I sighed, not sure what else to say other than “Thanks, Sierra, for letting me talk about this. I think...I think I feel better.” It was such a horrible lie, one that he saw through instantly. “I think I’m going to go back to bed for a while.”

Sierra nodded, reaching over and putting a paw on my shoulder. “Things will get better,” he promised.

I could only hope so.

* * *

* * *

“Come on Slink, back on your feet. One more round!”

All of my muscles burned, I was exhausted and my legs trembled beneath me, and still the Riolu wanted more from me.

“Lu, we’ve been at it for more than an hour. Give me a little break.” I wandered over to a pillow and blanket, both borrowed from the hospital a floor below, and began slurping greedily at the water that was waiting there. 

“Sure, I guess. Five minutes.” Lucy said, relaxing from her ready position. The soft blue glow about her paws and shoulders died. She sat down next to me, popping an Oran berry in her mouth from the small pile Candice had given us. “You nearly got me with that last Flamethrower. Well done.”

“If...I...had done...well...I...would have...actually...hit you!” I shook my head. I would have loved to lay down for even a moment, but it would have been agony to stand again. 

The observatory of the Expedition Society made for a great sparring arena. It was large, mostly empty, and, vital for our purposes, fireproof. Kegan, with a lot of convincing, had allowed us to use it for the day.

“Alright, fox-boy,” Lucy said as she elbowed me in the ribs. “Let’s get back to work.”

I groaned before standing up. I’d asked for this after all. The Dreamstone had been mine for over a week and I had barely used it. I barely knew how to use it. Just because I could now use both Fire and Psychic that didn’t mean that it was easy. Even with her type disadvantage, Lucy beat me every single round.

She walked a few yards away, taking up the ready stance again. “Give me a moment,” I muttered, forcing myself to move again. I lowered myself into a battle stance as well. “I’ve gotta activate it again.” 

“Yes, because Smoke would wait for you to do that,” she grumbled to herself. 

It was so unlike before. Now I understood why this was the Dreamstone’s gift, and why it was so important. I simply had to ask and the painfully warm feeling of the Dreamstate would fill my chest. “Alright, here we go.”

Lucy only grinned at me before she disappeared. The first couple of times we’d done this, I’d been surprised. Now it was simply the first step in a complex and very violent dance. I hopped back, just barely avoiding a blue-yellow blur. It struck the ground where I had been standing before vanishing again. 

Listen, don’t look. She was just too fast to track with my eyes. In matches past I had done the best when I listened for her instead of watching. 

There! My ear flicked as I caught rapid footfalls coming up behind me. Normally I would have spun around to defend against that, but the whole point of my training was to mess with my new abilities. I spewed flames, then used Psychic to direct them back behind me in a wide fan.

“Well done,” Lucy said as she leapt away from the flames. She rubbed her paws together gleefully. “Now try this!” She leapt up, disappearing into the maze of metal ribs holding up the dome.

Yet another familiar step in this dance. _Pffft, pffft, pffft_. First one, then three, then dozens of aura spheres rained down from the rafters, each exploding against the ground. Small gouts of energy burst out when they hit; rings of aura splashed across the floor. I cloaked myself in flames, pushing myself faster to sidestep each shot. I raised a psychic field as well to help me sense and predict each attack. I needed both to stay ahead of her. Juggling the two pushed my control to the limits, but, I noticed with some confidence, it was much easier now than the last time I’d tried it.

That confidence made me careless. A lucky aura sphere clipped my hind left leg. My hindpaws slipped, but instead of trying to catch myself I leaned into the roll. I twisted my body, skidding along the floor on my back. With Psychic I gathered together the Fire flowing off of my fur and formed it into a pair of rings above me. A heartbeat passed. Then two. Flames exploded from the rings in a concentrated beam. 

The Riolu cried out in surprise, a short sharp yip. But even she wasn’t fast enough to avoid my attack. She landed — clinging to one of the steel beams as her fur smoked. She grinned at me, a look that promised that things were only just starting.

Rolling back to my feet, I breathed fire and shaped it into a barrier around me. I just needed a second to breathe. At that moment though, the Riolu dropped from above. She passed through my flames, landing only a few feet in front of me. Her fur was smouldering and she stumbled a little upon landing, but she was still standing.

I should have leapt out of the flames, but I hesitated. Would it be better to try and counter-attack while she was weak? I’d waited too long. Lucy took a step forward. Now she was holding a glowing blue staff in her paws. She rushed forward with an overhead swing. I barely had time to dodge. I ignited my fur, stoking it hotter and hotter to try and deter her, but her aura staff was long enough that she didn’t have to worry.

The blows came faster and faster, weaving in complex patterns. I couldn’t keep up; the staff brushed against me with every swipe. Two more moves and the fight was over. She swept low, and I simply couldn’t move in time. The staff got tangled in my legs, sending me to the ground.

She stood over me frozen, both of us panting hard. The Flame barrier I had erected was beginning to fade. Lucy smiled, sweetly instead of dauntingly. She offered me her paw and pulled me to my feet. “That was much better cousin. That last, round though, couldn’t you have pushed me back with Psychic? Given yourself some room to move?”

I grimaced, rubbing my haunch where the aura sphere had struck. “I...I wasn’t thinking. It was all I could do to dodge.”

“Well either way, it is another opportunity for you to learn.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Hey cou-Lu… thanks for this. There is no way I’d be prepared without this practice.”

“You’re welcome, cousin. Now, get ready. Let’s go again.”

* * *

* * *

Vix and I crouched behind a large boulder tucked away at the edge of the property, each of us trying (and failing) to contain our giggles, ready to run at any moment.

The sun filtered down through the trees. The air was warm, but not blistering. A cool breeze, winter’s last gasp, still stirred the air. Despite how early in the season it was, it was a perfect spring day. The girls had, of course, taken full advantage of it. They had been outside playing from the moment Slink had dropped Vix and Lucy off. 

Games of chase and tag. Hours of adventuring and exploring through the small forest. When they got tired, they would relax in the shade. Lucy would idly braid small flowers into Abby’s thick fur. She had tried with Vix, but the Vulpix wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as the Absol. They talked as they rested, but I had no idea what about. 

I had stepped outside, planning on relaxing in the sun with a new book when Vix ran up to me breathlessly. 

“Eve, come on,” she said, nudging my shoulder. “Come play with us!” 

I had to stifle a giggle as I realized that Lucy had sneakily tangled a couple of flowers into her unruly hair. “What are we playing?”

“Rescue Teams and Outlaws. You’re on my team and they are it!” 

“I guess we better hurry then.” I said, bolting off into the trees, the girl laughing behind me. 

We didn’t have long to find a hiding spot, and the rock was the only one that we could both fit in. Still it would work. After a few minutes of sitting there waiting, I leaned in to whisper to her. “How long do you think it is gonna take for them to find us?”

“Dunno,” Vix giggled back. She craned her neck, just peeking over the top of the rock. “I don’t see them.”

We waited in silence for a while as Vix kept watch over the rock. I would have used Psychic to keep track but that was apparently cheating (and it wouldn’t work on Abby). After a while I realized that this was the first time Vix and I had been alone since the split, the first quality time we had gotten together. “Hey, Vix, thanks for this.”

“For what?” she asked distractedly, still peering over the rock.

“For today. For asking me to play with you guys.” I shrugged. “I’m happy that I get to spend some time with you.”

“I just wanted to play with you,” Vix said. “I don’t remember the last time we played a game together.”

I tried to weigh my next words carefully, but they just came tumbling from my lips without warning. “I miss you.”

She flinched, her soldiers tightening. Finally she turned to face me. “I...I’m sorry.”

“Wait no,” I backpedaled. “I wasn’t blaming you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Vix huffed. She rested her chin on her paws, laying silent for a long moment. Eventually she looked up at me guiltily. “Are you mad at me?”

“What?”

“That I chose to go with Slink? Are you mad at me?”

“Of course I’m not,” I said a bit too loudly. I reached out, gently grabbing her chin with Psychic and lifting it so I could look at her. “I’m not mad at you. I’d never be mad at you for something like this.” I rubbed my cheek against hers for a moment, shifting closer to her. Had this been eating away at her for the past two weeks? “Vix, honey, why do you think I’d be mad at you?”

“I don’t know...because I chose to go with Slink instead of staying with you.” Her tails beat nervously at the ground behind her.

“Vix, I understand. Your relationship with Slink is different from your relationship with me. I’ve always known that. It doesn’t mean that I care about you less. Vix, are you happy?”

“I...what?”

“Are you happy? That is all I want, for you to be happy. If you made a choice that you are happy with, then I am okay.”

“I...I don’t want Slink to go away again. I didn’t want him to go without me.” She whispered it, like she was admitting some horrible secret. “I told him… I’m okay with the choice I made, and I am but…” her voice was barely audible, “I don’t want to pick. I don’t want to choose one of you… I want...”

“I know Vix. I know. I wish that you hadn’t gotten caught in the middle of this. It isn’t fair for any of you. I’m sorry, I really am. We’ve just got a lot to figure out.” I bumped her shoulder making her look up at me. “Look at it this way. No matter how this all ends up, you still will have both of us. We will still both love you so, so much. I promise you will never have to worry about that. I know I don’t say it as much as he does, but you are my daughter too.”

Vix smiled. I’m sure she was about to say something else, but before she could, Abby pounced. Both of us had been so distracted by the conversation, neither of us had noticedher approach. She leapt over the rock and landed with one paw on my shoulder and another on Vix’s back. 

“Gotcha!” she cheered, oblivious to what she had just interrupted. “I thought I was gonna have to chase you. Now you guys are it!”

I glanced at Vix who was blushing significantly, staring deliberately at her paws. Bumping my shoulder against hers, I leaned in. “Race you back to the house.” 

She smiled. 

* * *

* * *

It was such a perfect day, and I was spending it in the worst way possible.

There was no reason I had to go into the Expedition Society that day. The work I wanted to do wasn’t urgent. Some of it didn’t even need to be done. But it was a fantastic excuse. The weather had been getting nicer recently. Less dreary clouds and rain, more beautiful sunshine. But there Vix sat, once again in a tiny apartment, missing her best friend. But if, say, she and Lucy had a reason why they needed to spend the day at the other house, with the big yard, and with Eve and Abby, well that sounded just delightful for them. Even if I had to spend the day inside, it would be worth it. Although after three days of it, I was starting to regret that choice.

The fourth day, though, things changed. Sierra met me at the door, as he had done the past three days, but after the girls had charged off into the yard he stepped out instead of back into the house. 

“You alright, Slink? What has Kegan had you doing the last three days?”

“Eh, I’m alright. Just keeping busy you know. Kagan hasn’t even been pushing me on it. I just want to get it done.”

“What does he have you doing?” Sierra asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“Kegan has me compiling everything the Society has on the Hatred, adding in anything I can think of given all of our encounters. Apparently I’m in a unique position for that kind of thing.”

The Absol nodded. “Ah. Makes sense that he would give that to you.” He paused. “And that has taken you four days now to do?”

“Well,” I said sheepishly, “I have been a bit distracted. I figured I’d use the time on a more personal thing.”

“Uh huh. You know if you’d like some help, I’d be happy to come along.”

I was surprised at the offer. “It’s alright. You don’t have to come.”

“I don’t mind. You’ve spent three days in a library, Slink. Don't you want some company?” He raised his eyebrows at me.

“It’s mostly just transcribing stuff,” I muttered not really sure why I was trying to talk him out of it.

“And it will go faster with two of us. I’ll tell Eve we’re going.” And he left before I could put in another word.

To his credit, Sierra was a help. Whether it was copying down information or reorganizing the books, journals, notes, and completed pages. He pretty much took over at one point, leaving me plenty of time to work on my side project. While I had unrestricted access to all of the Society’s knowledge, I wanted to put everything together about my grandfather, my father, and have a complete record of my family. 

“Whatcha got there?” Sierra asked, leaning over to peek at the page I was working on.

“I wanted to update the records in the society. When I looked before, they had no idea that Phoenix or Xen are related to me. Figured I should fix it.” On the page was a sketch of a family tree. Complete, or, well, mostly. 

“Your great-grandfather was a Nuzleaf?” Sierra laughed. 

“Adoptive great-grandfather, but yeah.” I shrugged. “The Society has the adoption form on record.”

Sierra nodded, but he didn’t seem to be totally listening. He ran a claw down the page reading the names as he went, before stopping at my name. “Hmm, what’s this?” The page didn’t stop with me. Beneath my name was Vix’s. He grinned at me.

“It’s true,” I shrugged tucking the page back into the rest of my notes. “Why wouldn’t I write it down?”

“Well you’re giving that page to Kegan right? To update the Society’s records? You know what the next step has to be then, if you’re making it official?” 

“Yeah, I do. I asked Kegan yesterday if he would start putting the paperwork together for that. I’m just not sure…” I paused, realizing that I had probably said more than I intended to.”

“Not sure of what?”

“I just… well Kegan asked if I just wanted my name on it, or both mine and Eve’s.”

“Have you talked to her about this?” Sierra raised his eyebrows. 

“Have we talked about anything recently?” I countered with a shrug. “As far as things we need to talk about go, I’m pretty sure this isn’t the first one to tackle. ‘Hey, I know we haven’t talked to each other in almost three weeks, but do you want to adopt a kid together?’”

Sierra stared at me for a moment. “Alright then. Well, maybe you could fill the papers out for yourself, and then add in Eve when you guys figure things out.”

“That hardly seems fair to her,” I said with a shrug. “She has just as much right as me to have her name on that paper. I think it is better just to wait. Seriously, what will that piece of paper really change? I already think of her as my daughter, and we are legally her guardians. All that this would do is change what the Society calls me.”

“I hope you don’t really mean that Slink. This would be such a nice gesture for Vix, don't you think?”

“I do, but… well I don’t really want this to happen when mom and dad are fighting.” I sighed. “This should be special for her as well. It shouldn’t be something we do just to do it.”

Sierra closed his book, piling up all of his papers. “I’m finished with this. I’ll go give it to Kegan for you.” Before he left, he turned back to me. “I hope you figure it out. That girl deserves everything from you guys.” 

* * *

* * *

After a long day, all I wanted to do was relax for the night.

I’d already taken a bath, I had a cup of tea ready, and there was a book waiting for me that I had been waiting to read for a couple of days. It was about to be a luxurious night. 

Sierra had already gone to bed while Abby was staying up with me, already deeply engrossed in her own book. I settled in a chair, ready to spend a few hours settled down, doing nothing. 

My bag was laying on the floor, propped up by the base of the chair. Once I was settled, though, my tail snaked down and lifted it onto the chair. I rummaged through it, searching for my book. Although it came to paw several times, I found that the letter still languishing inside wasn’t weighing on me at all. I don’t know if I had accidently bumped it, or if it was just precariously placed in the first place, but all the same my bag suddenly tipped over the edge. By the time I realized what had happened, its contents were strewn across the floor.

I hopped down in an instant, doing my best not to stomp on any of the spilled berries. At the noise, Abby looked up too and scrambled to help me clean things up. “Oh, uh, I’ll get that.” I muttered quickly, as I saw Abby reaching for that green piece of paper. “I think I saw something roll under the couch. Would you grab it for me?”

I snatched up the letter, along with my purse and the remainder of my stock of berries and returned them all to my bag, if a bit haphazardly. I was just about to return to my chair and book when I realized that Abby hadn’t returned with whatever had gone under the couch. I turned to check on her, only to find her standing there, frozen, holding a small golden object in her paw. 

“He...he gave it to you,” she whispered. It was the token Slink had given to me—I had almost forgotten about it until now. The Absol turned it over in her paw, examining the strange gemstones contained with it. “And you still have it.”

“Wait.. you...uh...You know about it?”

“Yeah, Vix told me about it. We didn’t know he had actually given it to you, though.”

“Please don’t tell Vix about this,” I whispered, looking around as if the Vulpix was just about to appear. “Yes, he gave it to me. Said it was mine, and that I should have it no matter what. But neither of us know what to do with it, so please can we keep this between us, at least.”

“But you still have it,” Abby repeated insistently. “You still have it!”

“What else would I do with it?” I grumbled. “Abby, what is the big deal? Slink and I are still trying to figure things out. Why does it matter?”

“Because mom-” and then she stopped, her excitement apparently getting ahead of her. “It uh...it reminds me of my mom’s. Well I mean, hers wasn’t a badge, but… uh… You’re staring at me.”

I didn’t dare even breathe. I’d asked Sierra before about Abby’s mother, about what had happened to her, but he never answered. At best he would dodge the question, unusual for the generally blunt, straightforward Absol, and at worst he would outright ignore it and completely change the subject. I had long since given-up on asking, but here was Abby. I hadn’t even thought to ask her about it.

“Oh, I guess.. You wouldn’t know about my mom. She left when I was seven.” Abby said, looking over towards the hallway where the door to Sierra’s room was hidden. “I don’t know much about what happened between her and dad. There were arguments between them, I remember. What they argued about, I don’t know. They at least tried to keep me away from that, but sometimes their raised voices would wake me up at night. I never went back to sleep after that.”

“I...I had no idea,” I muttered to myself. “Abby, you don’t have to keep going.”

“It’s alright, Eve.” She grimaced. “But I do remember the morning I woke up and she wasn’t there. I remember my dad sitting in the Kitchen, just staring at her token which was still laying on the table. I remember him leading me from the house. I remember the Lapras port. I remember so many Lapras ports.” Her words came in a rush, like she was worried I would stop her before she could finish. “I remember so many that my father sold her token, and then his own in order to get us here.”

“...I don’t know what to say,” I whispered. “Abby, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m fine, Eve, really.” She didn't look fine. Her eyes had turned red, and she was idly rubbing one of her hindpaws against her other leg.

“You said this had something to do with that token,” I said reaching it out to snatch it from Abby’s paw. “What did you mean?”

She looked at me, then at the token. “When my mom left, when she was gone for good, she left the token behind. You still have yours.”

“Abby,” I whined, knowing exactly what she was thinking. “I told you. I don’t know what to do with it. Honestly, I don’t think Slink knew what to do with it either.Just because I kept this... _trinket doesn’t mean that-_ ”

“-I know, I know. You guys are still figuring it out. Still I can’t help but think that so long as you have that, there is still a chance.” She gave me a sad smile. “Is that naive of me?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” I sighed. Abby and I had never been terribly affectionate with each other, but I knew that she needed the comfort in that moment. She was a little bigger than Vix, but I found that hugging her was easy. 

“Thanks Eve,” she said in my ear. She stepped back. “I think I’m gonna head to bed.”

“Alright...night then.”

“Oh, and Eve,” Abby said looking over her shoulder, “I know there is still a chance.”

* * *

* * *

It was an emergency, and we were quite literally the only team for the job.

It was late in the afternoon, and the three of us were headed to dinner at the house. We’d spent most of the day on a simple job, and we were excited to spend the evening with the other half of our team. Well, mostly. Eve had come over that morning to invite us to dinner—the first time she had visited the new apartment. Not only that, but she asked me if, later that night, we could talk for a while. I had no idea where this was headed, and I was a little scared.

To say I dragged my feet a little leaving the house would be an understatement. We left the apartment at five-thirty for dinner at six. We’d make it in plenty of time, I assured myself. 

Well that was until we came across a crowd a couple blocks away from Society HQ. We were going to just take a detour when we heard a shout. “Somebody call the Expedition Society! Help!”

I was running before I knew it. Sprinting towards the crowd, the heat, the light that was slowly starting to grow. 

It was a restaurant, one that we’d only been to once or twice, _Carnivine’s Kitchen_. And it was on fire. The blaze was small for now, but it was quickly growing, almost completely engulfing the right side of the building. “No. Let me go! I’ve got to- He’s still in there!”

The three of us pushed our way through the crowd, up to where a Meganium had the shop vined off. She had an Expedition Society Badge gleaming on her chest and was doing everything she could to prevent a distressed Luxio from forcing his way past her.

“No! No! I’ve got to go back in! He was right behind me when we came out. Shawn! Shawn!”

“You can’t. You’d barely make it through the door. The Society is only a few minutes away. They’ll bring Water Types who will help!”

“He doesn’t have a few minutes!” The Luxio lunged forward again, but Lucy jumped and caught him around his middle.

“Hold on,” I shouted, making sure that my badge was visible as I stepped forward. “I’m Society and Fire type, I can help.”

“It’s too risky.” The Meganium grimaced. I noticed that the ends of her vines, the ones closest to the building, were starting to smolder. 

“The Flames can’t hurt me, and I’ve done this before.” I looked to the Luxio who was still fighting against Lucy to try and get to the building. 

The Meganium stared at me for a long moment before nodding. “Fine.” She lifted her vine, letting us through.

I tossed my bag aside as I sprinted for the door. “Vix, stay here. I’ll be back in a second.”

“There is no way I am letting you go in there alone!” The Vulpix stayed doggedly on my heels. “I’m just as safe as you are, and we can get out faster with two of us looking.”

“Fine, but if I tell you to go, you have to leave. And please don’t ever tell Eve about this.”

It was bad. Most of the inside was either on fire or reduced to cinders. All of the tables and chairs had been destroyed, leaving twisted skeletal remains. What was worse was that this was an older building, held up by a series of wooden beams. More than half of them were gone, and the parts of the ceiling that weren’t ablaze were sagging dangerously.

“There!” Lucy shouted. I hadn’t even realized she was behind us, but it was fortunate that she was. Her aura allowed her to locate him in the thick haze. It was almost in the center of the room. One of the beams had collapsed, crushing the table beneath and landing squarely an unfortunate Meowth’s leg.

“Vix, you pull him out,” I shouted as I ran to one end of the beam. “Eve, I need you to—” I stumbled over my words, realizing exactly what I had said.

“I’ve got it,” Lucy shouted, taking the beam in her paws. It pushed my power to its limits, but together we were able to lift the beam enough that Vix could pull the Meowth out.

We made it safely, with Lucy carrying the Meowth across her shoulders. The four of us collapsed as soon as we were far enough away. The Luxio rushed forward and pounced onto the Meowth curling his entire body around him as soon as Lucy lowered him gently to the ground. I sat there panting for a moment, relieved that this hadn’t gone terribly wrong. 

Eventually the Expedition Society arrived, a Samurott and Carracosta rushing in to battle the flames. A pair of Candice’s apprentices followed soon after to take the Meowth to be looked at by the Blissey herself. Before they left though, the Luxio approached us.

“I can’t thank you enough. I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to him.” The Luxio nearly tackle-hugged me before hurrying off towards HQ. 

Finally I turned to the girls. “We’re probably super late for dinner at this point. At the very least we should let the others know what happened.”

They were irritated initially, until I explained why we were late.

“So, long day?” Eve asked me as we sat down to eat. 

“Yeah,” I sighed, giving her a sideways glance.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Honestly? “Yes. I would. So much.”

It was such a small moment, but I will always remember what came next. We met eyes, and for the first time since that awful day on the Mist Continent something clicked. We looked at each other...and smiled. 

* * *

* * *

I let go.

My gem illuminated the dark box as I lifted the letter into it and then it was gone. It was done. The letter had been sent. There was no going back now. 

As I left the Pelipper post, I pulled the green letter from my bag, holding it between my tails. Outside I passed by a Charmander and a Typhlosion walking together. I took one last look at it before I reached over and ignited it in the Charmander’s tail. I left it behind on the sidewalk, not even looking back as my father’s words crumbled to ashes.


End file.
